George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw and Hugh Laurie
Screenplay by Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird
Directed by Brad Bird
Rated PG for sequences of sci-fi action violence and peril, thematic elements and language
"You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one."
- John Lennon, Imagine
John Lennon and Walt Disney were two very different people in many ways, and this philosophy epitomizes the creator of Mickey Mouse. Ever the innovator, inventor and optimist, Walt certainly had his flaws as a person, like most of the greats, but he was a visionary that never stopped dreaming up new things and hoping for a brighter tomorrow.
And yet, if you look at Disney's slate of live action films for the next few years, Tomorrowland looks like it may be the last thing they put out that isn't a remake of an animated classic, a Marvel movie, a new Star Wars episode or anthology, or the latest chance for Johnny Depp to prance about and pretend anyone besides him still gives a doubloon about Captain Jack Sparrow.
What makes this all the more ironic is that Brad Bird's enjoyable adventure may be the ultimate personification of the old man's idealistic and innovative vision of the future, creativity and the wonders that humankind is capable of when imagination is their only boundary. Walt may have been as commercially motivated as anyone, but he also believe in taking people places they've never been before, creating new experiences, and in dreaming. Note to current Disney CEO Bob Iger: stop buying and start dreaming.
In 1964, Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) is a young inventor who has created a jetpack and attending the World's Fair with the intention of winning a $5 prize. His entry i rejected by one of the judges, but Frank soon forgets this when he meets when an enchanting little girl called Athena (Raffey Cassidy). The girl gives him a mysterious pin and he suddenly finds himself transported off to the world of Tomorrowland, a futurstic utopia filled with skyscrapers, flying cars and other wonders.
Flash forward to present day, and we meet young Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), a plucky teenaged girl who is intent on sabotaging an attempt to disassemble NASA"s launch pad at Cape Canveral, which would put her engineer father (played for some reason by Tim McGraw) out of a job.
Casey is arrested, and upon her release she notices a strange pin among her belongings that she hadn't seen before. She reaches for it and once she touches it the world around her changes to a massive field of wheat. Off in the distance, a shining city beckons. But this vision only appears to Casey, and only when she touches the pin.
Her search for answers leads her to a bitter, middle aged hermit named Frank Walker (George Clooney), who initially wants nothing to do with her, but when they are attacked by robots that play like "what if Disneyland was staffed entirely by T-1000's?" Frank and Casey become a team, and they are joined by Frank's old friend Athena, who (surprise) hasn't aged a day.
Tomorrowland does face some serious problems by biting off more than in can chew, leading to a sometimes very convoluted story where you are never completely sure that all of the pieces fit, which is par for the course for writer Damon Lindelof (Lost, Prometheus and the two Star Trek reboot films.). Fortunately, the other thing we can always expect from him is mind blowing fun that may not answer all of the questions it asks, but at least it dares to ask questions and present ideas. This movie is a wild ride of twists and turns that mixes childlike wonder with a cautionary tale about complacency, following the crowd and excepting the inevitable without even trying to fight it. to evoke Terminator 2 once again, the message is "no fate but what we make."
Robertson makes for a great young heroine, and while you are no doubt tired of every film being saddled with a feminist spin, to paraphrase A.A. Milne, "tough shit." What is most wonderful about Casey is that the filmmakers treat treat her like any reluctant hero thrown into an impossible adventure, from Marty McFly to Harry Potter, except that she just happens to be a girl. No special attention is brought tho this, there are not two boys she has to choose between (there isn't even one.). She's not a remarkable young girl, she's just a remarkable young person.
Perhaps the trickiest element of all of this is the relationship between Frank and Amelia. The aging, bitter old man who was spurned by is first love at the age of ten, only to meet her again and have her still, for all intents and purposes, be a ten year old girl, creates a tension that could and probably should have been creepy, but Clooney's mature and nuanced performance, young Raffey Cassidy's luminous and ageless sense of wisdom and director Brad Bird's sensitive approach makes this easily the most complex and interesting character relationship in any movie this summer. For all of the movie star hype and glamor, Clooney reminds us that he is a first-rate actor who can portray sincere, powerful and understated emotion with the very best.
Tomorrowland may be a bit loud and confusing at times, and it gets a little too shameless about advertising for Disney properties (especially Star Wars), but it all comes together well enough in the end to be well worth the price of admission.
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