What happened to our dreams for the future? In the post-war generation, all the way into the ’70s — our vision was always colored in bright skies, sleekly designed and endlessly prosperous. It was the product of hope.
Now, our view is colored by despair. We envision worlds of dust, either controlled by harsh surveillance states or lost to chaos. Somewhere in our cultural history, we gave up. This is the overarching theme of Tomorrowland, the latest from director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol) and writer Damon Lindelof (LOST, The Leftovers). Unfortunately, the answers it poses to this question aren’t quite worth the journey.
If you’ve ever visited a Disney park, you’re likely familiar with the real-world equivalent of Tomorrowland — a place where retro-style science fiction is brought to life in shades of chrome and gold. In realizing this concept, Tomorrowland is an undeniable success. The set design and atmosphere are outstanding, bringing this retro joy to life in true fashion. Even when things start going haywire, it’s a ton of fun to see modern takes on these antiquated designs. A walk-through sequence of the titular land itself is dense with imagination and fun. An explosive fight scene treats ’50s kitch ray guns as serious weapons. But such scenes of joy are few and far inbetween.
Our story follows Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), an optimistic wunderkind who feels unappreciated in our pessimistic world. After a skirmish with the law, she receives a mysterious invitation to Tomorrowland — and sets off to find it. For a child genius, Newton spends most of her time on screen in active bewilderment to the situation around her, or engaging in condescending quips that fail to generate charm.
Along the road she meets Frank Walker (George Clooney), a former child prodigy who has been exiled from the futuristic society. Clooney is playing well within his comfort zone here — the sarcastic rogue who smirks his way through every scene, but revealing heart when it really matters. Clooney’s acting is largely forgettable, as is Robertson’s. The one standout performance belongs to the mysterious Athena (Raffey Cassidy), who brings much needed heart and spirit to the proceedings.
As the trio investigate the mystery of Tomorrowland, they slowly stumble through all manner of action sequences (which are well-shot, though unremarkable) and hamfisted backstory (delivered in short monologues that prove woefully confusing). Rather than reveal itself slowly, Tomorrowland instead builds itself up — posing new questions and mysteries before bothering to answer the ones that have already been established. This forces the film to lay all of its cards out on the table at once in the final few scenes, creating a confusing and preachy mess of a finale. The concepts and ideas expressed within Tomorrowland would be hard to do justice in a six-hour miniseries, much less a two hour summer blockbuster for families.
Tomorrowland isn’t an unwatchable film. But in a certain way, it’s worse. This is a missed opportunity — an original sci-fi premise with strong morals, and all the right creative team members. Backed by the full force of the Disney marketing machine, and the associated financial investment. This is the sort of challenge to the status quo that can shift culture when it’s successful…all for a film that falls flat in the dirt, destined to be forgotten.
Tomorrowland wants to inspire a better vision of the future, yet it just may doom us to a dozen more pessimistic dystopias drawn up on screen.
Follow Chris Berg on Twitter @Mushroomer25