Review written by Michael J. Ruhland
Michael's Movie Grade:C
Review: With films like The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille, Brad Bird has proven himself as one of the most talented film-makers today. However the greatness of those films can really hurt Tomorrowland in the eyes of his fans. That is not saying this is a bad movie (it isn't), but it simply can't hold it's own among the director/co-writer's best work.
The visuals of this film are outstanding. While some might complain about an overuse of CGI, it is done very well, and fits in just fine with the story (without overshadowing it). The movie truly has a feeling of a spectacular sci-fi fantasy.
The action was also well done. Unlike many movies today the action scenes never went on too long, and therefore never lost their sense of excitement.
The acting was pretty good. Thomas Robinson's performance as a young Frank Walker was quite engaging, and gave a great sense of hope and childlike faith that was needed for his scenes, He also provided a great contrast with George Clooney's older more cynical approach to the character. Britt Robertson was very effective, and brought an important likability to her character. While Raffey Cassidy brought out a rarely well-done human side to a robot character, without losing the robotic heart of the character. Unfortunately Hugh Laurie played a character that was too bland to care about, so it is hard to grade his performance.
The story begins as a fun action, Sci-fi adventure movie. This is quite well done, and even at times quite original. At this point the character's truly guide the story, and these characters are very likable, and relatable. We can easily see both our own optimism and pessimism in these characters. This also shows us fantastically how different people view the future with either or both hope and fear. This is truly great and subtle human, and social commentary (something the end of the film is sorely missing). This section of the film is unfortunately not how the whole movie will be.
The worst part of the movie is the approach to the film's message. The film's message simply should have been told more subtly. In fact it is told subtly at points, and it is still easy to understand the message when it does this. However the movie still feels it has to go into long-winded speeches about this. These speeches have all the subtly of an Al Gore speech, and about the same amount of excitement. These speeches are also an un-cinematic way of getting the point across. Another Brad Bird film, The Iron Giant, gives a great commentary on cold-war America, however that movie never dives into long-winded speeches, but rather tells the message through the art of film and story telling. The environmental message of Tomorrowland, however, can at times delve into environmental lechers, and not very good ones at that. To make matters worse the villain is a very bland character that whenever he is on screen just seems to spout these speeches. All this would not be so bad if Brad Bird hasn't already proven that he could do all this better, with the subtle social commentary of The Iron Giant, and the complex, well developed villain Syndrome from The Incredibles.
However this fault does not completely rear it's head until late, in the movie, and up until then it is a well made, highly entertaining movie that while not a classic is quite enjoyable. The characters are likable, the visuals and action spectacular and fun, and the performances engaging. However do expect a story that starts off fun with bits of originality and great human commentary, but then delves into environmental lechers, that you can hear on a college campus anytime. Overall a good (if faulted) movie, that unfortunately can't live up to what Brad Bird has done in the past.
By the way be excited, Brad Bird's next film will be The Incredibles 2. I have no doubt that will be really good.
-Michael J. Ruhland
