A.C.’s Review: Over
a decade ago Disney launched one of the most successful movie
franchises ever when they spun off one of their theme park rides into
the Johnny Depp lead PIRATES
OF THE CARIBBEAN. Hoping to repeat that success the company had high
hopes by bringing to the big screen TOMORROWLAND starring George Clooney
(GRAVITY) and Britt Robertson last seen in the romance flick (THE
LONGEST RIDE). The results unfortunately turned
out to be less than spectacular.
Trying
to summarize the story for a review is nearly impossible and that may
be one of the flaws about the movie. Britt’s character Casey, an
optimistic teen whose
family is about to fall on hard times when her father will be put out
of work with the downsizing of NASA’s shuttles space program. She is
gifted a special pin that when she touches it shows her a place called
Tomorrowland. What is Tomorrowland? Well, again
it’s hard to explain but Casey is hell bent to get there. The
benefactor of the pin reveals herself to be a robot who looks like a
young girl named Athena. In order to get to Tomorrowland they must join
forces with a man named Walker (Clooney) whom Athena
brought to Tomorrowland when he was a child. At some point he was
exiled from Tomorrowland and is now bitter. Enough with this
description….its again too hard to summarize but basically the trio must
save Tomorrowland and the very Earth itself from destruction.
I
hope this movie wasn’t marketed to children because I think children
would be very restless watching this movie. For a light hearted alleged
family flick it seems
a little dark when some cops are disintegrated by evil robots pursuing
Athena and Casey . Not to mention there is this whole strange vibe when
Walker now an adult is sharing screen time with Athena whom he was in
love with as a child. The implications are
awkward at best. Also its telling how mismanaged this film is. Athena
and her actress stole every scene that she was in…but appears nowhere in
the trailers. The focus was on Clooney and I will admit I have a bias
that this guy is one of the most over hyped
movie stars out there. I don’t get his appeal. He looks just like a
regular guy. Throw a hard hat on his head and he could be any
construction foreman anywhere in the world. Sure he can say his lines
good enough but he’s nothing special.
The
movie while not quite fizzling at the box office isn’t exactly lighting
it on fire either and has opened up a debate as to the future of
original properties
in Sci Fi…since sequels and reboots now rule the day. Also this is the
third year in the row of an under performing would be block buster for
Disney. Following the failures of JOHN CARTER and THE LONE RANGER. Don’t
worry too much about Disney who now owns most
of the known universe including The Muppets, Star Wars and Marvel
Comics. They are having a good run with AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON and STAR
WARS Episode 7 should launch into the stratosphere this December.
Best
Scene: It turns out the Eiffel Tower is really a launch pad to take the
Trio hurtling into space in order for them to reach Tomorrowland.
A.C.’s Rating: DVD
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