Tomorrowland (2015)

Tomorrowland (2015)

Director: Brad Bird

Cast: George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy, Thomas Robinson

Every now and then I have to write a review here in defense of a film that was wrongly accused. These are films that had no right in becoming box office flops, but did anyways for whatever the reason. I did it with Waterworld (1995) which in my opinion is an excellent post apocalyptic film that got the shaft because of production woes, once the media starts bad mouthing a movie calling it ‘a fiasco’, people will think twice before spending their hard earned cash to go see it. But in the case of Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland (2015), I think a lot has to do with the message the film sends, you see, this is an extremely rebellious film; it’s a message that clearly speaks against “the system” and those who suffer from living in it. It’s a shout out to all those dreamers out there, those of us who want to make the world a better place.

In Tomorrowland, robots from the future come to our time looking for the brightest, most creative minds. They take these promising young people to a city in the future, in order to create a society where goodness, happiness and creativity can strive. Basically, the people from the future want to create a society that works for the improvement of mind kind, a society in which all those wild ideas you ever dreamed of could come true. Frank (George Clooney) was one of these chosen few, he’s skills for inventing and engineering machines was amazing. Unfortunately, he’s given up on the whole idea of a ‘Tomorrowland’. What will it take to spark his imagination again? Did this ‘Tomorrowland’ ever come true? Did it ever happen? Does the idea have a chance of flourishing?

So of course, the film speaks of us, our society and how it seems we’ve given up on improving ourselves. Sure we got smart phones and internet, but don’t you agree that a whole lot more can be done to improve society than keeping us entertained? What about clean energy? What about recycling on a global scale? How about designing some way to eliminate world hunger? It’s obvious that there are bigger fish to fry when it comes to focusing human inventiveness. And that’s what Tomorrowland is all about. The idea that the future lies in the hands of the younger generations who shouldn’t be afraid to change the world they’ve inherited. Of course, there are those who don’t want you to see this movie because it might put ideas in your head about improving society and “god forbid!” using your mind to its full potential or waking up from that programmed slumber.  So this is probably why this movie got such a bad rap from all those self righteous critics. The media bad mouthed it to hell because its ideas are extremely subversive.  

Why do I defend this movie so? Well, for one, it’s an amazing movie that not only speaks about some very important truths about our society, but also looks beautiful and entertains to the max. And I mean this movie is never boring! The special effects are top notch perfect, which doesn’t surprise me. Brad Bird is the director behind this film and his films have never disappointed in the entertainment/fx  department. The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011), are all visually dazzling Brad Bird films, so expect lots of eye candy in Tomorrowland. Fying jet packs, androids, laser guns, futuristic landscapes…the amazing vistas just keep coming in this movie. There’s this amazing sequence that takes place entirely in Tomorrowland that is just like..wow, it will blow you away; which is cool because it’s a film with an important message that doesn’t stop to preach at you, it sends its message across in an entertaining way. This was a passion project for Bird, so much so that he declined to direct Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens (2015) in order to work on this film, which says a lot about how much he cared about what this film had to say.

Brad Bird

This film is based on an idea that Walt Disney had way back in the 50’s. The whole idea behind EPCOT Center; Epcot standing for Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, was to start a new kind of city where new technology was to be created and showcased, where human imagination was to be celebrated. This prototype city was to have its own suburb and even an airport. He wanted to create a model community that would continually change and evolve with the advancements of humanity. Epcot Center and its many pavilions are still dedicated to showcasing human advancement, but it is not what Walt Disney had envisioned. Disney wanted to create a new type of society that would set itself apart from the real world, something that we could all aspire to. Unfortunately, that never came to be, and now its all just rides and restaurants, but once upon a time Disney had envisioned a better world, and apparently those ideas died with him; which is mostly what this film is about. Disney’s ideas were probably too radical, and governments don’t like the word radical. They like radical people even less. They prefer clones with a hive like, programmable mentality. The state of our world gets me all sad sometimes, because it shows evil reigns, which is probably why a film like Tomorrowland can bring tears to my eyes, which I’m not afraid to say it did. The questions this movie asks are big and the answers are even bigger; Tomorrowland is a film that deserves to be watched, not ignored.

Rating 5 out of 5

Go here for an in-depth review of the film from the good people at Radiator Heaven!