WASHINGTON – Disney has long stoked聽a聽symbiotic聽relationship between its movies and theme parks.聽Usually,聽the films inspire the attractions, from聽Cinderella’s castle to Dumbo’s flying ride, but聽occasionally聽it’s the inverse,聽from聽“Pirates of the Caribbean” to “The Haunted Mansion” (2003).
Now, Disney is taking it a step further:聽adapting an聽entire section of Disneyland into the聽new movie “Tomorrowland.” The results are mixed but the hearts of the filmmakers — director Brad Bird (“Ratatouille”) and writer聽David Lindelof (“Lost”) — are firmly in the right place.
The film opens at the 1964 World’s Fair, where boy genius Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) meets a tech wizard named Nix (Hugh Laurie) and a mysterious聽little girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy). She gives him a聽“T” pin, which聽unlocks a secret portal聽into the future, found inside the prototype for聽“It’s a Small World” (Note to Disney diehards: Space Mountain hadn’t been invented yet).
Flash forward several decades, where teenager聽Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) is聽raised an optimist by聽her NASA father (Tim McGraw). He tells a聽fable of two wolves fighting, one an聽optimist聽and one a pessimist.聽Which one wins? The one you feed. So it’s up to her to break the聽cynicism of grown-up Frank聽(George Clooney) to unlock the secrets of Tomorrowland and save the future of mankind.
While these聽grand ideas at times perplex us, the casting makes it a聽journey worth riding.
If you didn’t know Britt Robertson six months ago, you do now, thanks to a string of high-profile roles across Jennifer Aniston in “Cake” (2014), Scott Eastwood in “The Longest Ride” (2015) and now Clooney here.聽Her rising star plays well off Clooney, who just landed the聽Lifetime Achievement Award at last year’s Golden Globes (highlight packages already included “Tomorrowland”).
Still, it’s child actor Raffey Cassidy who steals the show as a twitchy robot. She routinely gets the last laugh, be it going into “shutdown mode” to avoid Robertson’s questions, or looking Clooney straight in the eye to say, “You’re just not funny.” Cassidy is a聽capable star-in-the-making, aided her by special effects that make her lips quiver and eyes blink with the聽sped-up rapidity of a computer glitch.
It’s in these small moments where the special effects shine. To Bird’s credit, he directs the PG action with clever choreography, making it feel less like a CGI headache聽and more like carefully-executed storyboards. This elevates two battle scenes in particular, first inside an聽antique store —聽using merchandise of聽“Star Wars” and “The Day the Earth Stood Still” as weapons聽— then inside聽Clooney’s home聽with聽a series of sci-fi booby traps to repel robot invaders聽in聽“Home Alone” style.
Bird’s penchant for blocking — captured by Oscar-winning cinematographer Claudio Miranda (“Life of Pi”) —聽continues聽his growth from Pixar’s聽“The Incredibles” (2004)聽to live-action stunts聽like聽“Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” (2012). And yet, we still get the same child-like wonder that made his Pixar films a success, this time backed by co-writer聽Damon Lindelof,聽creator of TV’s “Lost.”
Just like “Lost,” the strongest stuff聽comes at the beginning, before spiraling into some real head-scratching. “Tomorrowland”聽runs off its own monorails聽in Act Three,聽becoming far too聽confusing for kids to聽follow. These mental loopty-loops are ambitious, no doubt, but even adults will have trouble once the plot reaches the Eiffel Tower, where animatronics of Thomas Edison, Gustave Eiffel, Nikola Tesla and Jules Verne leave us 20,000 leagues under comprehension.
This PG roller coaster may have聽benefited from a “must be this tall to ride” sign, but much of the聽film is so聽captivating and so imaginative that’s it’s well worth the ride. As soon as we enter the turnstiles of our multiplex, we’re hit with direct-address narration that’s comically interrupted by an off-screen voice, freezing the screen as the characters dispute how to tell the story. Before long,聽Bird convinces us that worlds are colliding, as聽past and present聽shift with the touch of Robertson’s “T” pin.
All the while, Bird is subversively rolling out a warning聽against the chief issue of our time: fear-mongering becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom. In one pivotal montage, a string of聽school teachers paints an dystopian聽vision of聽George Orwell’s “1984” with enough “dark sarcasm in the classroom” to make Pink Floyd squirm.
Raising her hand, Robertson stands up:聽“I get that it’s bad. But what can we do to fix it?”
At this, the teacher stops in聽his tracks. He doesn’t have an answer. He hasn’t even thought about the answer. Rather, he聽has built聽an entire career on doom and gloom — without offering an alternative.
In this moment, “Tomorrowland” offers a great message for kids and a much-needed lesson for today’s adults, from聽politicians to cable news pundits. It’s easy to run campaigns against something聽— Democrats did it when George W. Bush was in office; Republicans are doing it now that Barack Obama is in office — but where are the positive alternatives? “Tomorrowland” isn’t perfect, but it’s a much needed dose of optimism. Who says Disney can’t do social commentary?
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The above rating is based on a 4-star scale. See where this film ranks in Jason’s . Follow 小萝莉影视 Film Critic Jason Fraley on Twitter .
