Written by Dan Doherty
The most positive thing I can say in regards to this film are the performances. Britt Robertson showed a lot of star potential in the lead role, and sold all the correct emotions in response to each situation her character went through. George Clooney was also typically good in his role, which was a bit different than I expected from the trailers. One of the most interesting characters in the film was a young girl named Athena who factored into the film prominently, played by the young Raffey Cassidy. Hugh Laurie also did a very good job in his role, although I felt he was underutilized. Another positive about the film was the way it was shot. Brad Bird did a lot of interesting visual tricks and there were some stellar action scenes. The scenes that took place in Tomorrowland were also a wonder to behold, evoking a youthful sense of wonder and optimism. When the action scenes were taking place, I was glued to the screen.
On the negative side, Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof's script was very problematic, which led to the strange tonal shifts and less than stellar direction. There are a lot of moments where there will be an epic grandiose feel to a scene, but then it will strangely lead into a joke that falls flat and takes away from the stakes of the situation. It also felt as if Brad Bird was attempting to emulate the feel of a Steven Spielberg blockbuster, and while he nailed the visual splendor, he missed the mark with the emotion and characters. Also, for a film that is being praised for being so original there was a lot of the same beats from other sci-fi films and extremely obvious foreshadowing early on in the film. Also, the eventual message in the third act felt very forced and I could see the ending coming from a mile away.
While Tomorrowland is not an awful film and has elements of greatness in it, it's hampered by the poor direction and script. I would not discourage people from going out to see it in the theaters, but I can't bring myself to recommend it to anyone. Brad Bird's latest film, Tomorrowland, was one of my most anticipated films of this summer, as I thought it could be a visually splendid and wholly original sci-fi. And while Tomorrowland certainly delivered visually, and had great performances by the whole cast, it suffered from tonal confusion, awkward direction, and an abysmal script.
2.5 out of 5 stars