Review of Tomorrowland (2015) by Filmphonic — 22 May 2015

As far as Disney films go ‘Tomorrowland’ may be the most ostentatious and ambitious yet, combining a visually stunning family Sci-fi epic with a socially conscious mystery, the captain for this multifaceted ship is acclaimed writer/director Brad Bird (The Incredibles) whose association with Disney goes back to his first job as an animator for them.

We commend the Disney marketing department for their restraint with a strategy that avoids endless “leaks” and spoilers thereby protecting the film’s mystery and the 1st time movie-going experience, take note Marvel & Lucasfilm and other “Tent-pole” movie makers.

Needless to say ‘Tomorrowland’ is visually impressive layering the best CGI money can buy into a design aesthetic inspired by the Disneyland attraction and based on a view of the future from a 1950s perspective, somewhat “Jetsons” like.

The heart of the film however is the story and tone and that’s where Bird starts to trip over his own ambition, ‘Tomorrowand’ is essentially a story championing the creative and restless over the apathetic in this world, it bends over backwards to drill the audience with the message that the “dreamers” will change the world and hope will conquer all.

Naive but refreshing and commendable for a Disney family film to try and tackle, but if the constant preaching and morality tale wrapped up in a bow gets tedious for mature audiences what about the rest of the family?

There’s a lot going on storywise and it’ll be easy for the message to be drowned out by the visuals and tangents which make the story disjointed, particularly for younger audiences, and it’s hard to excuse some of the convenient narrative as Disney fantasy when they’re invoking actual theoretical physics to wrap-up high-minded concepts of space and time into this fantastical tale, Disney’s ill-conceived attempt at ‘Interstellar’ perhaps.

The Bottom Line….

A little disappointing given the mystery surrounding it and certainly not a game-changer, ‘Tomorrowand’ is nevertheless a bold filmmaking leap by Disney and a visually impressive and highly original if not overly memorable cinematic experience.