Tomorrowland

When Disneyland in Anaheim opened the futuristic section of the theme park called Tomorrowland it reflected the 1950's vision of world possibilities that included smooth sleek monorails and rocket ships. In the new Disney movie of the same name director Brad Bird (Mission Impossible-Ghost Protocol and The Incredibles) which he co-wrote with Damon Lindelof, that vision is still intact for an alternate universe where all good things can live, grow and expand gloriously. But that world is set for doom, because the pessimistic world view has infected it like a virus and only something like positivity can set it right again. A simplistic Disney fairy tale notion set with rocket packs and robots.

The story begins at the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. A young farm kid Frank (Thomas Robinson) who just happens to be a boy genius has taken the bus with his rocket pack made from Electro-lux vacuum cleaners which he shows to David Nix (Hugh Laurie) who is in charge of assessing new inventions. David, impressed by his ingenuity, is put off when he learns it doesn't quite work as well as Frank expected. However, David's daughter Athena (Raffey Cassidy) is intrigued by Frank and slips him a small pin with the letter T on it, and encourages him to follow those selected by David into the Small World ride. That ride takes him to a place totally unexpected.

Flash forward and we meet Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) who is trying to sabotage the destruction of the NASA launchpad that will put her scientific engineer father out of work. (Disney movie = no mother). Casey obviously brilliant and knows how things work, but still ends up getting caught in the act of her civil terrorism. When she gets out jail by her dad, she finds a T-pin in her belongings. It's been keyed to her DNA. When she touches it she is transported to Tomorrowland. But no one can see it but her. Unfortunately the pin expires it's program, so she looks on the Internet to find another. Which is a cool memorabilia shop called Blast From the Past. But what she finds there is not exactly what she expected. Enter Athena, still young, who helps her, leading her to Frank (George Clooney).

From this point the movie picks up speed. Frank who had been exiled from Tomorrowland and now living as a grizzled old crank, still mad at Athena for whom he once crushed on way back when. Casey finds out that she be the potential savior of Tomorrowland. Athena has selected her as a new recruit for the Plus Ultra's, a secret group of artists and other gifted and smart who created Tomorrowland. Frank, reluctantly concedes that Casey's presence may have changed the odds of the ultimate world disaster. Now they have to get to Tomorrowland to try and fix it.

The gobbly-gook of explanations regarding the Plus Ultra's, and the establishment of the alternate universe will be lost on most people, which is probably fine, because Frank's gadget filled house and the rocket in the Eiffel Tower, all the while being chased by robots are totally fun and distracting from all that scientific mumbo jumbo. Tomorrowland itself is full of wonders, but it looks like a super clean subway station, or some new Frisco super mall. A souped up modernization of Disneyland in the 50's. Clooney plays Clooney with his typical dry wry wit. And Brit Robertson is panicky and perky. It's Raffey Cassidy who steels the movie as Athena.

The lesson the movie seems to try to impart is that negativity kills and the power of hope and love endures. So keep that in mind while watching this film and just have a good time. Don't think about top hard.
(Review by reesa)