HOLLYWOOD—Hmmm, when I first heard about the movie “Tomorrowland” I did my best to categorize the flick. Was it an action movie, a sci-fi adventure, a family flick, fantasy adventure? In essence, it’s a little bit of all those things which is the problem with cohesion. The fantasy flick which stars Oscar-winner George Clooney takes the audience on a mesmerizing journey of what lies in our near future.
Clooney portrays Frank Walker, who as a kid learns that technology is on the cusp, and what he has crafted is nothing compared to what his counterpart Athena (Raffey Cassidy) exposes him to. Flash-forwarding to the present, the audience meets our main character Casey Newton portrayed by an inquisitive Britt Robertson.
She dreams of flying while playing with her toy drone. When she finds a small pin with a “T” engraved on it, the world of opportunity soon opens to amazing fun as she gets transported to the future. One could argue “Tomorrowland” is a flick about time travel more than anything. So it’s apparent that Casey has been engrossed with the possibilities that have been presented to her, even if she hasn’t quite figured out what to do to ensure her time in Tomorrowland isn’t so short.
That prompts her to do further investigating to the origin of the “T” pin which leads her to a memorabilia store in Houston. There she meets Hugo (Keegan-Michael Key) and Ursula (Kathryn Hahn) who are not too happy to discover that Casey knows about this mysterious pin, and finds herself in a tricky situation. Who comes to her rescue, its Athena of course, who reveals the store owners are robots.
What director Brad Bird and writer Damon Lindelof craft is a flick that allows the spectator into a world that at times seems impossible to imagine, but crafts a nifty relationship between Casey and Frank. No, Clooney doesn’t come across like a father-figure to Casey’s character, which I think is an important element of the movie.
These are two characters who discover a world that so many others have no idea about. I love the aspect that the audience never quite knows who the good guys or who the bad guys are, and “Tomorrowland.” The flick nearly transforms to a spy adventure mid-way through the movie.
This is a film that highlights the notion of seeing into the future and having a possible decision on what action to take or not to take to halt something catastrophic from occurring. It also plays with the notion of the fear of seeing into the future and having to come to terms with something that may not be as enthralling as we hope.
I will acknowledge the narrative of “Tomorrowland” is a movie that will keep the viewer intrigued throughout the movie, but the confusion somewhat comes in not clearly understanding where the movie is going until it ends.
What I’ve realized is that seeing the film a second time brings a bigger appreciation for what it aims to do, which is highlighting that being a dreamer is a fabulous thing. The impossible is not as impossible as one would like to suspect, that is the message the movie attempts to deliver to the audience. It’s not as clearly laid out in the best way, but it’s a theme that is universal for the young and the old. Dream big because it can take you to grand places.
