“… fits in well with its peers in the “children’s sci-fi adventure” category.”

Yesterday I watched Tomorrowland, and was left wondering why exactly it gets so much hate from people who have seen it. The movie is directed by Brad Bird and stars George Clooney and Britt Robertson and has a plot that is very difficult to summarize. Essentially the movie follows Britt Robertson’s character, Casey, when she gets arrested and finds a strange pin returned to her along with the rest of her stuff. When she touches the pin, she gets transported to a magical place that resembles what people in the 1960’s thought the future would look like. When the pin stops working, she finds and enlists the help of George Clooney’s character, Frank, (who has been to Tomorrowland) to help her travel to the magical place she saw via the pin. Reading what I had just typed makes the movie sound super convoluted and confusing, but that is not even half of the plot. Honestly, if you like science fiction adventure movies, I would recommend giving Tomorrowland a shot.

So like I said, I don’t really understand why this movies seems to be so universally hated. To my knowledge the movie is not based on an existing property (besides the Disney attraction), so it’s not like people could get their hopes up. And I also remember the trailers, and how mediocre they were, so I doubt people got overly excited about those. And last night when I watched the movie, I enjoyed myself which leaves me wondering why exactly the movie is hated by all. I only had one major problem with the movie, and that was pacing. And this problem really did ruin some enjoyment I got out of the film, but not enough for me to hate it. Tomorrowland clocks in at just over two hours, which is about 30 minutes longer than it needs to be. I found that the story would be super fleshed out in parts that didn’t matter in the slightest. And the beginning of the movie (the flashback sequence) felt very out of place to me. I realize that it was setting up the story, but again I felt that it just went on too long. This, for the most part, left me feeling exhausted watching the movie because it almost felt like a chore to get to the fun stuff. But when the movie did get to the fun stuff, it was worth it. Tomorrowland is an adventure movie through and through, and it fits in well with its peers in the “children’s sci-fi adventure” category. That’s not a bad thing, but it is nice that the movie chooses to have fun as its top priority. I felt the writing in Tomorrowland was also pretty good. Nothing amazing, but like I said the movie knew what it was and stuck to it. The story implements a lot of science elements, but it doesn’t dumb them down too much. That unfortunately becomes a flaw during the climax of the movie because as the characters are explaining their thoughts out loud, I’m completely lost. I’m not sure if it was because they were talking too fast, or if it was because they were using scientific terms, but I couldn’t help myself but to sit there staring at the screen with a dumbfounded look on my face. And with that being said, the story felt a little too preachy for me. For those who have seen it, you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say that it felt like I was being pelted in the face with a lesson during the entire third act. Apart form those issues, I felt the movie was pretty good. It was a fun adventure movie, with a great world that was the centrepiece for the story. The effects (which the movie relies on pretty heavily) were also pretty great. There were only a few instances where I was taken out of the movie by sub-par effects. Other than that I was in constant awe of the beautiful landscapes and creations that Tomorrowland presented.

This review was kind of short, but there is not much more I can say about Tomorrowland. It was a fun adventure movie, with an interesting world and great effects and a story that was new. Apart from a few issues (stated above), I would say that Tomorrowland was a pretty great ride.

I give Tomorrowland a C