Both Joseph Saulnier and Jennifer Fiduccia had the opportunity to check out Tomorrowland. First, let’s hear from the title author, Joseph Saulnier.
I have to be honest. I was confused when I first heard that a movie was being made called Tomorrowland, and even more so when I heard it that actually is based on the themed area of Disney parks. How could they do it? What would it be about? It was strange. The teaser trailer didn’t give a whole lot away either (as teasers are designed to do). When I saw the full trailer, I had a little more understanding, and it definitely piqued my interest, but I was still totally in the dark. And I wanted to see the movie! I guess Disney really did their job right.
In this film, Tomorrowland is a place of unlimited possibilities. Another dimension, where the inhabitants of that dimension actively seek out intelligent people, inventors, who can do something that can change the world for the better. We begin at the 1964 World Fair in New York where we see a young Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) entering into the inventor’s competition with a jetpack that doesn’t quite work. However, a mysterious young woman named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) takes an interest in him, offers him a pin and instructs him to follow her. Thus begins Frank’s adventure and we move forward in time to the present day, where we meet Casey Newton (Britt Robertson).
Casey is the teenage daughter of a NASA engineer, who is no slough in the intelligence department herself. We are introduced to her as she is sabotaging equipment at a NASA launch pad that is scheduled to be taken down, which will leave her father without a job. We see Athena again, who has mysteriously not aged, leaving a pin for Casey to discover Tomorrowland on her own. Only, this pin is a simple advertisement. We soon learn that something has gone terribly wrong, and our world is in danger. Athena leads Casey to an aged Frank Walker (George Clooney), who has since been banished from Tomorrowland, but still feeds off of their signal and sits and waits for the end of the world, which he knows when it will happen. But he and Athena see something in Casey that will help save both Tomorrowland, and our world.
Given the conversations, the imagery, and the theme of this movie, it is clearly targeted towards children more than adults. Though, there is plenty for an adult to enjoy about the movie, it is important to understand that the movie is clearly targeted to a younger audience. I say this because I feel, as did my guests who attended the press screening, that the main plot device, the main conflict of the movie, is far too complex a concept for this younger audience to understand. So before you read any further, spoiler alert. You have been forewarned. If you do not want to know, skip the next two paragraphs.
The idea here is that Frank Walker built a machine that could see any point in time. Past, future or present. With this machine, he saw the end of our world. The proposed resolution to stop the destruction of earth is this: turn off the machine. The argument being that the world ends because we see it ending. It becomes a fixation of our mind, and so it will happen. Apparently, the people of Tomorrowland have been streaming this information to Earth for years, but instead of taking steps to prevent it, Earth has embraced it. One of my favorite lines, delivered by one of my favorite actors (Hugh Laurie) indicated that we had simultaneous epidemics of obesity and starvation on Earth. It’s mind boggling. But the Casey comes up with the brilliant idea of turning it off, which will prevent the destruction of Earth because people will no longer be so focused on it. It’s a little more complicated than that, but this is the gist of it. Way too complex for your average child to comprehend.
Another part of the resolution and the end of the movie was brilliant, but I think it was poorly illustrated. As I mentioned earlier, the residents of Tomorrowland were searching for intelligent people, often high IQ inventors, who could make the world a better place. At the end of the film, Casey idea is to bring not only intelligent people, but anyone who will make a difference. Dancers, musicians, doctors, pilots, farmers, etc. I think I even saw a waitress in there. These are people who may not normally be recognized as highly intelligent, but can make huge differences in the world. The idea was to not be so limited in thinking, and understand how everything can contribute to a better world. However, they did not really do a great job of pointing this out, so some movie-goers may miss this point completely and simply see it as a rebuilding of Tomorrowland to its former glory.
Other than those two issues, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It had a great amount of humor, action and endearing moments. It was visually stunning, and took a concept that I never thought could be made into a movie and did just that. The movie was brilliantly cast, even down to the minor characters like Hugo (Keegan-Michael Key) and Ursula (Kathryn Hahn). Of course the score was fantastic, it is a Disney film after all. And despite my issues with the complexity of the plot, I still think that everyone, young and old, will enjoy this film.
Is it perfect? Absolutely not. But it is entertaining, and definitely worth seeing on the big screen. So go check it out. In theaters everywhere, today.
3.5 stars out of 5
And now here are Jennifer Fiduccia’s thoughts on the film.
The new Disney film ‘Tomorrowland’ is rated PG and stars George Clooney as Frank Walker, Britt Robertson as Casey Newton, Hugh Laurie as David Nix, Raffey Cassidy as Athena and Tim McGraw as Eddie Newton.
Casey is a girl with big dreams that ‘knows how things work’ (her dad, after all, is a NASA engineer). She is stubborn and tenacious and has just what might be needed to save the world.
The beginning of the film is a flash back that shows Frank as a young boy bringing his invention to the World Fair in New York 1964. Nix judges his invention, and finds it lacking, both because it doesn’t quite work properly, and because it was invented, as Frank says, ‘for fun’.
Athena, however, sees potential in Frank and gives him a special pin and tells him to follow along when Nix takes a secretive trip on the ‘It’s a Small World’ ride.
The movie doesn’t show until later what happens with Frank, but instead jumps back to Caseys time. Casey is being taught in school about the world and the disasters that keep happening. Earthquakes, fire, floods, drought, all of which the teachers portray as inevitable. Casey asks: ‘what are we doing to FIX IT?’
Athena, who has been a ‘recruiter’ for many years, finds Casey and thinks she can change the world. Athena leaves Casey a pin, and Casey is then transported to Tomorrowland for just long enough for her to both think she might be going crazy, and to desperately want to be back to see more.
Athena tells Casey that there is only one person that might be able to get them back now, and leads her to Frank.
Frank initially wants no part of Casey or any sort of travel back to Tomorrowland, but after being attacked by very lifelike robots that followed Casey to him, agreed to take them back.
The movie is pretty twisty and turn-y and as an adult I wasn’t always sure exactly what was going on or why. I really actually LIKED that though, because to me, it meant that the movie was not “same old same old” and it was certainly NOT dreadfully predictable.
Tomorrowland was full of action, and some parts that might have been scary for little kids (for instance the fight between Frank and Casey and the robots) were made less so because it was made clear that it wasn’t real people getting hurt and the good guys were clearly winning.
The Tomorrowland scenes are neat to watch and the futuristic look and feel of Tomorrowland draw you in and make you want to see what other surprises might be hiding there!
My son is 6.5 and he loved it. It held his attention, he laughed and cheered the good guys on, and I saw him sniffle a little at a sad part, so I know he was involved and invested in the movie.
I would most definitely see this movie again and would go with the whole family!
I would give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.
