'Tomorrowland' Never Stretches Its Legs Beyond the Possibility of its Premise
Tomorrowland is a return to the Disney family for director Brad Bird, who is slated to write and direct a sequel to his 2004 animated hit, The Incredibles. Yet, Bird and co. haven't created a movie that's relatable to audiences, like The Incredibles. Rather, it's a film that is grandiose in its scope and visual language, but leaves you wanting more from a story that never quite comes together.
misguided and frustrating
It's a frustrating watch from beginning to end. The ingredients for a expertly crafted original movie exist — and that's something majorly lacking in Hollywood today. But for all its optimism, Tomorrowland never stretches its legs beyond the possibility of its premise. In addition to Tomorrowland not living up to its potential, another frustrating element is during the misguided '60s paradise. It's romanticised, and a confused ideology that politics is a obstruction to innovation.
The central idea that floats over the movie is the concept that humans are too fixated on the atrocities of the world. The media is filled with stories of death, human distress and destruction. That belief rings true with how the world is today. We do live in a society and media landscape that focuses too much on the negativity of day-to-day life. However, it's at this point Tomorrowland begins falling down. Instead of allowing the audience to relate to such news topics, they lecture and criticise us for enjoying these apocalyptic stories — a narrow minded assumption.
simply too ambitious and complicated
At the end of the day, Tomorrowland is simply too ambitious. With its complicated structure, the movie attempts to embrace the present, a '60s past, and the future — only managing to confuse its audience even more. Remember, Tomorrowland tried to attract audiences to its allure by avoiding to explain, or hinting at nothing regarding its story. That's a tough sell. Remember 'Green Lantern,' 'Tron: Legacy' and the more recent, 'Jupiter Ascending?' All those complexed endeavours proved very tough to market. On the bright side, Disney, although they'll be down hearted with the outcome of Tomorrowland, won't be too upset given the units 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' has brought in this summer. Not to mention the return of a Pixar movie in the shape of 'Inside Out' that received great praise during its out-of-competition screening at the Cannes Film Festival this past week. But Disney must sense they've missed a beat?
Bird and co-writer Damon Lindelof (Lost) purposely avoided giving too much away in promotional materials for this release. I admire that decision, and on a certain level, support such resolution and bravery. It worked for Christopher Nolan (Interstellar, Inception) and J.J. Abrams (Super 8, Star Trek Into Darkness), who are other proponents of minimising story exposure in promos. Nevertheless, what works for others in drastically different genres doesn't necessarily correspond with family-adventures like Tomorrowland. As an audience, we need more incentive as to why we should give our money to watch a film thats so specific and anomalous to what else is on offer.
