(This contains MAJOR Spoilers! Be Warned!)
In Disney's Tomorrowland, three police officers are shot and killed in cold blood. The fact that it's done by robots (and death rays, which vaporizes them) doesn't make it any more acceptable.
Which is sad, because I'd been VERY MUCH looking forward to this film for weeks, and it disappointed.
Some good first: The young actresses here are wonderful. We'll be seeing a lot more of both Britt Robertson (Casey Newton) and Raffey Cassidy (Athena.)
My opinion of Hugh Laurie (David Nix) is colored by his amazing role as the lead character on House, MD, but in truth his acting was only fair, and I believe any actor – known or unknown – could have better played Frank Walker, portrayed by George Clooney, who was wooden and whose role was poorly written.
The first act is magical, and spectacular. The discovery of the pin and the wonderful place it exposes is amazing. The visuals are captivating – and this is what appeared in the previews. The nostalgic and accurate-feeling 1964 World's Fair was beautifully rendered and Frank's youthful wonder (played sufficiently by Thomas Robinson) pours forth from the screen.
And then the film goes haywire.
For starters, the film's science is absurd, and the way they eventually get to Tomorrowland is even more absurd (no, it's not a bathtub, as hinted at in the TV ads, nor the devise that takes them to Paris, which could have simply beamed them to Tomorrowland!)
Instead, we get numerous plot holes and absurdities that destroy even the internal logic of the film.
Just a few of the mind-numbing number of unanswered questions and plot holes:
For WHOM is the negative/realistic Frank Walker and the optimistic Casey recording the video in the opener? And why is he so negative? Clearly he can't be negative after the events of the film have unfolded, because everything seemingly worked out and new animatronic children are being sent out to revive Tomorrowland. But if it's filmed beforehand, why is he recording a video at all, and again, FOR WHOM?
What has Tomorrowland ever done for the world? That seriously is never addressed. That's why I thought we were getting this movie. It never materialized. We learn instead that a rather bleak looking Tomorrowland now exists, and probably existed like that when Frank was expelled when he was a teenager (in the early 1970s?) So what has it ever done for humanity to warrant its existence?
If, in 1964, a friendly robot device existed that could create bridges in the sky (and fix Frank's jet pack early in the film) why wasn't such a device sent to earth to repair and build roads and sky-bridges HERE? The sad answer lies in the same depressing conclusion: Tomorrowland has helped no one. Ever.
Why have the robots kill ANYONE if the world was ending in a month or so, anyway? Didn't they get the memo?
If Gov. Nix could have expelled Frank to a deserted island (where he would have died in a few years) using that transporter device, then why didn't he do that years ago, instead of putting him in a house and using the threat of killer robots to pacify him?
Tomorrowland was clearly being built in the 1960s. So HOW and WHY was the Eifel Tower being constructed in the 1880s as an inter- dimensional ship? And WHERE was it going, exactly? This ship's very existence is completely illogical and seemingly exists only to insert a bit of cool-looking Steampunk into the film.
If Nix could see the future, surely he could have seen his own demise, and Frank's return?
The moment when Casey has the revelation, standing in front of the portal to the island, I thought INSTANTLY that this film would make a wonderful U-turn, giving Nix and Tomorrowland a chance to redeem themselves. If spreading gloom and doom about humanity's problems doesn't work (and we see it NOT WORKINqG all around us) why don't they simply change the message of what's being sent out to the earth? But "destroy the array" is the answer, leading to two deaths almost instantly. What a way to end the film on a downer, making the later 'new army' of robot recruiters a poor "Plan B."
Finally, how did the 30-odd-day "end of the world" get fixed, by Casey wishing it away? By her positive energy? That's magic, not science. That someone has Midichlorians that can affect the universe is from another franchise, even if Disney DOES now own it.
Overall, the film's second and third acts are a huge disappointment, marred by unnecessary violence and numerous absurdities. Which is a shame, since the film could have shown the world being positively affected by those working together in harmony to build a better future. THAT was Disney's vision, after all, not just one more stupid movie-themed ride at the parks' Tomorrowlands.
This review appears on IMDB.com here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1964418/reviews-271
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