Susan Granger’s review of “Tomorrowland” (Disney)
If you’ve ever visited Disney World’s EPCOT theme park, you’ve had a glimpse of what Walt Disney and his “imagineers” envisioned as the influence of science and technology on the future of mankind. That’s the basis for this tale, which begins with disillusioned scientist Frank Walker (George Clooney)…
When he was a youngster, Frank (Thomas Robinson) brought a jet pack he’d invented to enter in a contest at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. While he didn’t amaze contemptuous judge David Nix (Hugh Laurie), a young British observer named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) was so impressed by his optimistic ingenuity that she slipped him a small lapel pin marked with the letter “T.”
To his amazement, when Frank touched the pin, he was miraculously transported to an alternative dimension known as Tomorrowland, a shiny, shimmering, serenely futuristic utopia where the impossible becomes possible…
After that prologue, it’s present-day Cape Canaveral, Florida, where too-bright-for-her-own-good Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) lives with her soon-to-be-out-of-work NASA engineer father (Tim McGraw) and little brother (Pierce Gagnon). She, too, mysteriously receives one of those magical “T” pins, catapulting her into Tomorrowland’s hologram.
When Athena, who turns out to be a Tomorrowland recruiter, warns curious, idealistic Casey she’s in great danger, she finds now-pessimistic, paranoid Frank (Clooney), who is living an embittered, hermit-like existence in a secluded farm house. Apparently, he discovered that mankind might not have the bright future he’d envisioned and was banished.
Co-scripted by Damon Lindelof (TV’s “Lost”), Jeff Jensen and director Brad Bird (“The Incredibles,” “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol”), it’s a generic condemnation of current social and cultural cynicism, epitomized by our enthusiasm for dystopian, post-apocalyptic entertainment.
There are several surprises (which I will not reveal) and delightfully nostalgic moments, like Casey’s playful visit to “Blast from the Past,” a movie memorabilia store run by Ursula (Kathryn Hahn) and Hugo (Keegan-Michael Key) – with nods to Gustave Eiffel, Jules Verne, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla.
But the film is at least 20 minutes too long with a preachy conclusion – and less wondrous than one might expect.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Tomorrowland” is a spiritually simplistic 7, a family-friendly sci-fi adventure-fantasy.
