Tomorrowland Review

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, There's Always Tomorrow.....For A Better Brad Bird Movie

In the world of Tomorrowland, Blast To The Past is a comic book store run by Kathryn Han and Keegan-Michael Key that plays a critical role within the plot of this movie, and boy howdy, is it fun to search for easter eggs within this setting. Just by nature of being a comic book store, there's plenty of opportunities for fun cameos of characters from other movies, some obvious (R2-D2, and his most notable sound effect, get tossed around) and some subtle (some Simpsons toys are hanging on a shelf, a nice nod to Brad Birds first foray into directing).


I could've spent the whole movie in there, just gazing around at all the cool background gags. It doesn't hurt of course that a majority of Tomorrowland just isn't all that interesting to watch, making that shop full of nerdy items all the more enticing. It's not that the movie is bad per se, because it truly isn't. But it is a frustrating one, primarily in how sloppily its scripted. From the get-go, things get off on the bad foot, as the film is told through the lens of Frank Walker (George Clooney) taking to the audience directly through a video camera.

Once he tells his tale of how he first encountered Tomorrowland, Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) then chimes in with how she discovered a magical pin that could take her to that futuristic environment. After spending so much time with a younger version of Frank being introduced to Tomorrowland, seeing Casey go through the same motions, as well as being explained everything the audience already saw in Franks flashback, becomes quite a monotonous journey. Screenwriters Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof really should have cut out the framing device and started this right out of the gate with Casey, that way, both she and the audience would be on the same level of knowledge about Tomorrowland, thus making her progressive discoveries about this enchanting realm all the more compelling.

At least Casey is a more interesting character to be around, with her chipper personality being fun in its own right, but I do like that the plot makes her more optimistic personality a crucial part of the plot as well as why she can become a great hero. Frank meanwhile, played of course by George Clooney, is solid enough as a personality, not being wholly original in execution, but Clooney does manage to make his disgruntled nature feel nuanced. On the other hand, Athena (Raffey Cassidy), a resident of Tomorrowland who help Casey and Frank in their journey, is a more flawed character, namely because her more mysterious nature becomes more and more aggravating as the film goes along. I get that she's supposed to keep a more suspenseful atmosphere going, so the audience and Casey don't know what's really going on at Tomorrowland, but after a while, it gets more repetitive than engrossing.

That's actually a fundamental flaw of Tomorrowland as an entire motion picture; it puts having a sense of mystery above all else, including having a fully cohesive plot and world. It's cool to have a sense of suspense linger over the cinematic affair, but it can't just be the only thing running the show. You need excitement, depth and all sorts of other crucial storytelling elements figuring into the proceedings as well, otherwise, you wind up with a slog of a tale. That's pretty much what winds up happening with Tomorrowland, which tries so hard to build an atmosphere of intrigue only for it collapse under the simple fact that a number of its characters (namely Hugh Laurie as a figure of crucial importance in Tomorrowland) and plot points, primarily surrounding events that occur within the titular location in the finale, that fail to capture your imagination.