Review of Tomorrowland (2015) by Samichsupernova — 23 May 2015

Meh, I expected so much more from Mr. Bird, who up to now has had a stellar track record. "Tomorrowland" is not terrible, just disappointing. The film preaches but never earns its forward-thinking optimism with a weak script, undercooked plot, and let's-make-it-up-as-we-go-along action and technology that fails to establish a believable universe.

Here's a tip, Mr. Lindelof: when you're writing a mostly humorless, exposition-filled, "mystery box" plot, it's essential to reward your audience for their patience. But when the third act of this bizarrely violent PG film rolls about, it just kind of lays there until the credits roll. If he stuck the landing, this might have been a 6 or 7. But that was not the case. I felt totally cheated by it.

The saddest thing is, the performances are great (especially Robertson and Cassidy, and it's amazing how well these young performers keep the film afloat) and a few of the VFX sequences are stunning, but the film betrays the importance and complexity of its themes by sledge-hammering one very specific message into the audience's skull, a message that ends up being conveniently supported by the happenings of the plot... because reasons.

Just... UGH. The potential was totally there, but the script was not. Can you imagine what someone like Bradbury, Sagan, Kubrick, Cronenberg, Tarkovsky, Gilliam, or Roddenberry could have done with this very same premise?? It coulda been a contender. It coulda been something.

I'll admit that Brad Bird and Disney's corporate department share a great deal of the fault here, but I see "Tomorrowland" as proof of Lindelof's ineptitude. It shows you can hand him what's essentially a writer's dream - a Futurist blank slate with a blockbuster budget and a rich potential for thematic depth - and he could still find ways to turn it into a one-dimensional non-sequitur that leaves you with the equivalent of cinematic blue balls. NYU should revoke his diploma. Mofo needs to be booted from Hollywood before his dumb*** ruins everything by association. Maybe he should try writing YouTube videos because clearly he doesn't know how to write a movie.