Written by: Damon Lindelof, Brad Bird, Jeff Jenson
Starring: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy, Hugh Laurie
Synopsis: Whenever Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) touches a lapel pin with the
letter T on it, she finds herself transported to Tomorrowland, a city
filled with huge robots and sleek buildings. The gifted young woman
recruits the help of scientist Frank Walker (George Clooney), a previous
visitor to Tomorrowland, who years ago made a startling discovery about
the future. Together, the two adventurers travel to the metropolis to
uncover its mysterious secrets.
I really wanted to like Tomorrowland, because I like Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof and any big budget movie that's not a sequel, reboot, or remake for that matter. But they sure made it hard to. It was almost good, all elements were there but the handful of cons completely outweigh all the pros.
The movie had bad pacing (it wasn't until 46 minutes in did I realize it was no longer the beginning of the movie) and editing, and it made the movie look like a big jumbled mess. The movie is like a road action movie which might be misleading as I, and many others, thought that this movie would take place primarily in Tomorrowland. It felt as if it was once a completely different movie that had a tough production and the whole movie was changed midway through. Bird has said that this wasn't the case, but it sure does feel that way. But the movie has bigger issues.
I am not accusing Bird or Lindelof of anything, but this movie has very near-pedophilic romance. When George Clooney's character was a kid, he fell in love with a girl who was a robot. When he's a bitter middle aged adult, he and the little girl robot continue to have an odd chemistry that implies there is still love between them. At the end of the movie, the girl admits she loves him (although not using the words 'I love you', and he never says 'I love you too'.) It's done rather tastefully and it's technically not pedophilia, but it's too close for comfort for a kid's movie. It adds nothing to the story either so it could have been left out. I doubt any of it was intentional but I really don't know what went through their heads that led them to believe that it was okay. The good news is, George Clooney and the Raffey Cassidy (who plays the robot girl), are both great actors and despite it being incredibly awkward and uncomfortable, the chemistry between the two are acted and written well.
The other issue is the absolutely silly ending, where we discover that our world is going to die because Tomorrowland has a machine that spies off of them and inadvertently is sending out waves of pessimism, with Hugh Laurie's character, knowing the effects, lets our world die anyway. It made no sense, was completely out of tone, and was just plain dumb. I was sort of digging the whole 'optimism' theme the movie was trying to give, but the ending twist ruined it.
Some of the dialogue is iffy and the writing is messy, but as I said, there are elements to this movie which made it almost good. The visual effects are great, as are the designs for much of the things you see in Tomorrowland. There are a lot of neat little ideas like the pin that, when touched, takes you to Tomorrowland for an elaborate commercial if sorts. There is a highly entertaining action sequence which involves a sci-fi collectibles store and Keegan Michael-Key that's worth mentioning. There's also a great quote Hugh Laurie says near the climax about how screwed up our world is, which was one of the few good lines of the movie.
This movie is a complete misfire, and I would only recommend it because it's such a misfire that it's fascinating. It's an oddity.
4/10
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