If good intentions were all that was necessary in making a
good movie, Brad Bird’s “Tomorrowland” would be considered an instant
classic. As written by Damon Lindelof
and the director, the film is an earnest plea for the renewal of the sort of
national optimism that fueled the space race, an unabashedly optimistic look at
the potential we have as not simply a species but the planet as a whole. No cynics are allowed here and while the sincerity
Bird and all involved bring is commendable, it all works in the service of a
faulty script that tries to get far too much mileage out of its flimsy, albeit
noble idea.
Ironically, things get off on a rather sour note as one-time
boy genius, now full-time curmudgeon Frank Walker (George Clooney) recounts for
an unseen audience his experiences at the 1964 World’s Fair, which he attended
wide-eyed with wonder, presenting his homemade jetpack to Dr. Nix (Hugh Laurie)
in the hopes he may be able to help with its design flaws. Instead, he’s rebuffed but a precocious
little girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) takes an interest in him, giving him
a pendant that, when touched, transports him to a magical, futuristic land
where geniuses and visionaries reside, all striving to make the world a better
place.
Flash forward 50 years and we meet Casey Newton (Britt
Robertson), a young woman as bright and eager as Walker once was, whose
unbridled enthusiasm is squash at every turn by a constant stream of dire environmental
and political events as well as the attitude of jaded adults. She too comes to the attention of Athena, who
passes on her last magical pendent to her, something that sparks her curiosity,
so much so that she sets out to find out more about it, a journey that
eventually takes her to Walker’s doorstep, who wants nothing to do with her or
her questions.
For a movie with such an urgent agenda it takes
far…too…long… for it to get to what it really wants to say. Casey’s journey for answers is delayed and
detoured by one artificial narrative roadblock after another as car chases,
series’ of needless questions and far too many silly misunderstandings keeps
the film from gaining any traction and alienates the audience as a result. (Perhaps the most irritating diversion is
Casey’s stop at a memorabilia shop that contains one Disney/Star Wars/Marvel
product placement after another. Make a
drinking game out of spotting these and you’ll be out of booze in three minutes.)
Clooney and Robertson both do a fine job but their labors
are for naught. Once the final conflict
is revealed the film’s ending proves to be the very definition of
“anticlimactic.” And while “Tomorrowland’s” ultimate message is worthwhile and
necessary, the sort of optimism it subscribes to is a bit too nearsighted and
naïve to truly take to heart.
This article appears in May 21-27, 2015.
