A Spirited Misfire
Brad Bird is a terrific filmmaker. His animated films—The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille—are rightly held in high regard. His live action debut, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, is a hugely entertaining blockbuster, and arguably the best of its franchise. His next film was once shrouded in secrecy, but ultimately became Tomorrowland. Though it's a Brad Bird film starring George Clooney and featuring an intriguing and original premise, it fails to rise to its own lofty ambitions. Tomorrowland wants to inspire and thrill its audience, and while it does each in fits and starts, it never manages to cohere.
The film opens with a wonderful prologue set at the 1964 World's Fair before jumping ahead to present day Florida, where we meet the spirited and science-minded Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), who rails against the doomsday cynicism of her high school teachers and former NASA engineer father (Tim McGraw). One night, after getting caught sabotaging launchpad deconstruction equipment, she finds a mysterious pin among her belongings when she posts bail. When she touches the pin, she's transported to a futuristic utopia, but it doesn't last. Determined to return, she embarks on a quest that eventually leads her to hermit inventor Frank Walker (Clooney), who knows all too well about that pin and where it leads.
Tomorrowland isn't a particularly difficult film to follow, but it still manages to have a mess of a story that takes too long to kick into gear and transport its audience. The first hour or so follows Casey as she tracks down the origins of the pin, but it's when she meets Frank that the story finally gains the momentum you expect of it. Part of the problem is that the film has two protagonists, and Tomorrowland is truly Frank's story. Casey's plucky determination remains unchanged throughout the course of the film. She has no arc, but she does represent what Frank once was—an optimist—and so this story is about him reconciling his past with his future.
Bird and co-writer Damon Lindleof built the story around Tomorrowland's chief theme that our modern cultural fascination with cynicism and doom is killing our optimism and, by extension, our future. It's a lofty and noble concept on which to base an original big-budget film, but without a tight story to truly grip the audience, it's not nearly as powerful as it should be.
Perhaps most disappointing is that, beyond the mess, Tomorrowland eventually arrives at an anticlimactic third act that feels like the story simply deflating. At the very least, it felt as though Bird and Lindleof were building to something fantastical—at least for the eyes, if not also for the mind and heart. What they delivered is neither a great resolution to the story nor a particularly entertaining finale.
With all that said, there is still terrific fun to be had with Tomorrowland. Though the film takes a long time to get where it's hinting it will go, the journey along the way is quite enjoyable, it just doesn't add up to much. The aforementioned prologue is a highlight, as are the glimpses Casey gets of the titular utopia when she touches the pin. The film also includes some excellent action sequences, including an invasion of Frank's house and a chase staged on the Eiffel Tower
Another winning element of the movie is its cast. Britt Robertson brings a wacky charm to Casey that keeps her endearing and makes her an entertaining surrogate for the audience. Clooney plays Frank with an expected gruffness, but he manages not to lose his inherent charm despite his character's unsavory qualities. He also manages to create a delicate balance of contempt, sadness, and longing in his scenes with Athena (Raffey Cassidy), a mysterious young girl with ties to both Frank and Casey (knowing more about her would spoil the film). If there's a true breakout Tomorrowland, it's Cassidy. She makes for not only a charming performer, but she also demonstrates a depth and wisdom in her character that is essential not only for Athena but for the success of the film itself. Athena plays a crucial role in the film's story, and had the part been miscast, the resonance of Frank's journey (the most successful narrative and thematic element of the film) would be non-existent.
Tomorrowland is a film that, despite it's many issues described above, is no average blockbuster, and similarly no average misfire. I've long thought that while all the best films are "about something," the themes and ideas are meaningless if the story cannot properly convey them. There is quite evidently tremendous heart behind the idea fueling Tomorrowland's creation, but that ultimately hindered the refinement of its narrative. Bird and his coconspirators definitely had fun and believed in this film as they were making it, and that energy permeates Tomorrowland and makes it an interesting ride worth taking. It's rarely dull and almost always has something cool onscreen worth seeing, but to enjoy those parts—rather than the sum—requires adjusted expectations. You may very well like Tomorrowland, as I did, but you probably won't love it.
All the same, I can't wait for Brad Bird's next film. Every filmmaker misses the mark at some point, and Tomorrowland is at least a misfire with gusto.