Mid 20th century Americana is a very tempting and popular target for the idealized society. We had just recently won the second of two world wars, defeating a patently dangerous foe and our economy was booming, making funding for continued technological advancement possible well after the end of the war. Many of our citizens’ eyes had been opened to new possibilities. Small town men had suddenly become world travelers and housewives had been introduced to the independence of being part of the work force. With our eyes on the horizon, we were pretty sure it was just onwards and upwards from there.
Walt Disney Pictures’ new live action adventure film Tomorrowland plays on the optimism of that era, making it integral to the plot at a time when such rosy-cheeked behavior is decidedly unfashionable. As a result, director Brad Bird ends up with an admirable and fun movie that is most appropriate for a pre-teen audience, but will make many more thoughtful audience members ask too many questions.
If you’ve been to Tomorrowland in one of Disney’s popular theme parks during the last 20 years, you know that the industrious optimism that carried that area of the park when Disneyland opened in 1955 and for a good time after that through space age dreams and technology has faded and gradually been replaced by broader science fiction and fantasy themes. When the place hasn’t had a refurb in a while it can look pretty dingy and sad. Walt Disney World’s best Tomorrowland attractions (Space Mountain, The Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and The Carousel of Progress to my eyes) prosper when viewed through the eyes of nostalgia. The idea that Tomorrowland, or even Future World in Epcot, might present us with some of the leading edge technology of our day was abandoned pretty quickly as too expensive and transient.
The film is unapologetic in its ties to its producing company and its own mid-century legacy. Early on we are treated to a visit to the famous 1964 World’s Fair at which Disney presented attractions which would become staples for the company. These included Great Moments with Mr Lincoln, It’s a Small World, and The Carousel of Progress, whose theme song “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” is featured prominently as we see an excited youngster debark from a public bus to visit its New York locale. That kid turns out to be George Clooney’s Frank Walker, who appears later as the grizzled and disillusioned inventor who is in exile from a real-life idealized Tomorrowland built by the finest scientists and artists that could be found.
Although the emotional journey being taken here is definitively Frank’s, there is also no doubt that despite billing, the lead of the film is Britt Robertson’s Casey, an unfailingly optimistic teen with an aptitude for science who we join in discovering this hidden place of technological magic. Robertson is appealing, but not yet fully mature as an actress, and when the script she is working from is not at the top of its game, the combination creates a shallow effect that gives the impression it is pulled directly from one of those Newberry Award finalists for young adults. She is far from the youngest featured actor in the film and this tends to work against it, especially before the more action-oriented scenes get rolling in its second half.
The other name actor on board is Brit Hugh Laurie, who most American audiences will know best from his long-running medical drama “House.” While the cordial relationship presented by Laurie and Clooney is well-considered, I really don’t see how Bird and company expect the nature of Tomorrowland’s Governor to be much of a surprise to experienced filmgoers. Just look around the screen and do the math. Also, there’s the little matter of the killer robots who show up at Frank’s house.
Much has been made of the recurring theme of exceptionalism that runs through many of Brad Bird’s films, including The Incredibles and Ratatouille, and it shows up here as well. Other commenters have labeled it as practically Rand-ian, but I think that takes it a step too far. Any person who has striven to be good at something or competed with others knows that sometimes a person is blessed with a natural talent or ability that can be maddening to behold. But even then, true exceptionalism is earned, not given by where you are born, and the truly exceptional don’t look down their noses at others or take what they have for granted. A real talent can afford to be gracious and generous. Also, I’m of a mind to go along with the best of us when it comes to something like science. They know better than I do.
In the end, Tomorrowland is a lesson in optimism over fatalism, a theme established early on in a conversation between Casey and her father (played by Tim McGraw). While it’s hard to argue the opposing point of view, it is a little dubious to pretend that post-war America was some sort of actual ideal. There were real reasons for the upheaval that followed on quickly. If you are able to take it on its own terms without thinking about it too hard, Tomorrowland could be an engaging and enjoyable day out at the movies for older children and their parents alike. Unfortunately, I suspect that it requires a little too much consideration from most audiences to parse its plot and ideas without a bunch of other questions inevitably popping up.
I actually liked both young actresses in this film and thought they were both good. I thought the girl playing Casey had pretty good instinct for comedy and I’ll be interested to see what she does next. I started thinking it was getting a little political during Gov. Nix’s speech at the end…but I can sort of be cynical about stuff like that. 🙂 I did love the fact that it was a smart girl who figured things out…maybe my inner feminist is showing. 🙂 Great family movie. I would think that any kids 8 or up would enjoy it.
There were times when a subtler or more complex approach to a scene by young actors could have finessed awkward dialogue. The girl playing Athena improved as the film went on and her motivations became more personal. I think most of the problem was in the writing, but a skilled actor can fix a lot of those things. I couldn’t really figure out what Nix’s motivation was supposed to be…he wanted the world to be destroyed because the people there were fatalistic about it? That’s weird. Wouldn’t that lead him to throw up his hands and focus on something else… Read more »
My daughter might want for us to see this one. It brings to mind reading the above, Donald Fagen’s “IGY”
“What a beautiful world this will be
What a glorious time to be free”
Not really a comment on the film, I just want to say that I have memories of way back when the Carousel of Progress was still a Disneyland attraction. I loved it!
I know I went to Disneyland at least once as a youngster while the Carousel of Progress was still there, but I don’t have any memory of it from that time. Apparently GE execs thought that everybody on the West coast had already seen the show, so they asked Disney to move it East, where I have seen it many times. Not many people know that the robin outside the family’s window is the same robin that sang with Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins. Just a fact that provides a tiny boost to my enjoyment of what is already a… Read more »
I don’t remember a ton of detail–by the time I hit junior high, it had been replaced by America Sings–but I remember tiny bits and pieces, and I definitely remember that it was one of the attractions I always wanted to see when we went when I was young.
Tomorrowland flops on opening weekend! It made only $32 million on the three-day part and is projected to make about $40 million on the four-day weekend. Could this $190 million epic be on the same level as recent big-budget Disney bombs like John Carter and The Lone Ranger?
The short answer is no, it’s not a flop of John Carter proportions. JC cost $250 million and grossed $30 million in its opening weekend. Obviously TL cost less and earned more. So it’s faring better. Factor in its foreign take and it should recoup its production costs. This isn’t the opening Disney was hoping for. But it’s not a disaster either. The problem as I see it is that no one knows what the movie is about. From reviews I have read, that may be a reflection on the movie. I have heard that the story is muddy and… Read more »
Could this do well internationally? A movie based on some Disney thing I handn’t even heard of before? No, thanks.
The movie can be enjoyed on its own merits without any real knowledge of the Disneyana involved. That stuff is in there, but really only as pretty obvious easter eggs for the fans to find. Outside of the scene set at the ’64 World’s Fair, what you’ve got here is an adventure/sci-fi movie for pre teens.
I won’t pretend to know. We will have to wait and see. These kind of movies tend to fare allright overseas. But I don’t like to make predictions.
Have you watched the Japanese trailer? It actually showed the premise of the film unlike the useless and unexciting trailers we got in the US. I’m not sure why on earth they didn’t release a trailer like that here. I was much more excited about the film after seeing that trailer. That said, I still haven’t seen it. Asked my husband if he wanted to see it on Friday. “It’s a movie? About Tomorrowland?” And I’ve SHOWN him the trailer. There was a hot second where I was excited about this movie but that second has passed. Ready for Jurassic… Read more »
I just watched the Japanese trailer and there’s some stuff in it that did not make the final cut of the film. Mostly fan service stuff that will most likely re-surface on the blu-ray.
I haven’t checked out the Japanese trailer. I have to admit, I just don’t have any enthusiasm for this movie. The vague marketing plus tepid reviews have drained what little excitement I may have had. I’m sure I’ll check it out on video down the road but I’m in no hurry to do so.
That’s a fully reasonable approach. Since it stars two young girls, your daughters might like it when you get around to seeing it on video. I enjoyed myself, but the plot and character motivations are a little fuzzy.
I don’t see the girls watching it. Josie doesn’t have a lot of patience to sit and watch a movie. Unless we’re at the theater, she usually leaves the room after 10-15 minutes and lets the TV play to an empty sofa. Kara considers all live action movies to be “grown up movies”. Maybe somewhere down the line, they will give it a look. But I’d be surprised if there was any interest any time soon. We’ll probably check out Inside Out. It will be showing when we’re on our cruise so I won’t see it before then. That way… Read more »
My hope was that the movie would surprise and be really good, giving the imagineers something to work with that would boost the futurist side of the Tomorrowland in the parks. After seeing the film I don’t see that happening.
We discussed that briefly before. I think Tomorrowland would have had to have been a massive hit before Disney would have looked to it for theme park inspiration. It doesn’t sound like Tomorrowland is a priority on either coast. At one point, Anaheim was going to give most of their TL a Star Wars overlay. That may still be the plan, I have lost track. In WDW, yes, it’s a thematic mess. But so is a lot of the resort. MK is the most fully realized park in Orlando. Disney has much bigger fires to put out there. Of course,… Read more »
I would have probably made a retro-futuristic film that was set mostly IN Tomorrowland. One of the bigger frustrations about the movie is that we get about 5 minutes in the idealized version of Tomorrowland. It’s kind of a bummer.
Yeah that to me seems like the biggest misstep. What I think people wanted was to see Tomorrowland. They wanted a gee-wiz sci-fi adventure. It sounds like the movie delivers on that in frustratingly small doses when that should be its focus. This is a summer movie.
You could do a comedy in which people from our reality travel to Tomorrowland which is not actually that much more advanced than we are, but just went in a different direction technologically. They actually made jetpacks work and have flying cars and wonderful mechanical robots, but their microchip and digital tech is way behind where we are. They have beautiful gleaming cities, but that’s all.
That could work. There’s a lot of things you could do. The fact that Tomorrowland doesn’t have a story is a blessing and a curse. It doesn’t present a template on which to base a movie like a comic book does. It’s a blank canvas. Much like Pirates could have been anything as long as it had pirates in it or Haunted Mansion as long as it had ghosts. With Pirates, they got the formula right. With HM, they got it oh so wrong. I do think basing a movie on a single ride experience is easier than basing it… Read more »
Are Tommorowland and Pirates of the Carribean related? Since they’re both based on Disney park rides I’m thinking they are related. No, not quite brothers or sisters but at least distant cinematic cousins, right?
Well, Disney sure hopes Tomorrowland will resemble Pirates of the Caribbean at least a little in its success. The biggest initial difference is that while PoTC is based on a single ride, TL is based on an entire section of Disneyland and Florida’s Magic Kingdom. If you see the movie, you may notice that the familiar shape of the ride building for Space Mountain, which is located in Tomorrowland, is part of the city’s skyline. But there’s no plot point in the film that has anything to do with that ride; it’s just an image they decided to include.
In the same way that The Country Bears and The Haunted Mansion could be seen as related. Which is to say very distantly. 😉
Ghost bears: scary or funny?
The Country Bears were kind of scary when they were alive. Ghost bears would be horrifying I would think.
Ironically the actual ghosts in The Haunted Mansion movie were neither.
Tomorrowland – Disneycember 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sth0J5D9kVc
The land of tomorrow awaits, but is it everything it’s cracked up to be?