Tomorrowland

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Brad Bird/Starring: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw, Kathryn Hahn and Keegan-Michael Peel

It's hard to say whether Tomorrowland is a Disney flick or director Brad Bird's film because at times it seems the futuristic city seen therein is little more than a re-imagined DisneyWorld. The film also seems like a plug for its theme parks. Even in a scene where a child named Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) walks into the 1964 World's Fair with his jet-pack prototype, we see Disney's It's A Small World exhibit, replete with the signature song. Talk about a product placement! And try as this talented director (Ratatouille, The Incredibles), might, I couldn't help but feel that the film was nothing more than a story smothered in a corporate infomercial. But we may give ample credit to Bird for pulling a mildly watchable (remember my mantra: mildly watchable can never be equated with good) story from a George Clooney-hosted theme park ride.

But the film takes a shot at a story, as a young woman named Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) tries desperately to prevent a NASA launch pad from being dismantled. Her father, Eddie Newton (Tim McGraw); a NASA engineer, is facing unemployment after his project is complete. During one late night stealth mission on the grounds (is NASA security so lax?), Casey is caught and arrested. Freed on bail, she collects her belongings at the police station, only to find a button with a prominent "T" on the face. Upon touching it, she is instantly transported to a wheat-field where she sees the Oz-like skyline of Tomorrowland; a futuristic city gleaming on the horizon. But Casey also finds that she is transported back to our world when she lets go of the button. The phenomenon naturally startles her and when she tries to demonstrate it for her already angry father on the way home from jail, it fails to work for him.

Finding a large field in which to re-activate her button, she is able to re-visit Tomorrowland and wander around the city. She sees people zipping around in high-tech jet packs, monorails gliding through the air without actual rails and many other wonders which leave the visitor dazzled. Unfortunately she also finds a miniature, digital readout on the button that is rapidly counting down to zero. When it does just that, she is transported back to our world and unable to reactivate the button.

Through her sleuthing, she finds the pin is actually a replica of one sold at the 1964 World's Fair. Her brother locates a store in Houston that carries the pin, which she travels to while her father believes her to be on a camping trip. The place that carries it is a funky, sci-fi collectible establishment run by two offbeat characters played by Kathryn Hahn and the Keegan-Michael Peel. They immediately become suspicious when she shows them her pin and when she tries to leave they lock the door before targeting her with high-tech blasters. As she races through the aisles trying to elude them, a young girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) arrives to dispatch the two owners, who we learn are actually robots. Athena warns Casey they need to hurry away before dangerous operatives arrive who intend to kill her. As the two escape, Athena tells Casey the operatives have been sent by a man named Nix who is intent on tracking down the "chosen"; those who have been invited to Tomorrowland via the pin.

Athena suggests Casey visit a previous occupant of Tomorrowland; a man since exiled from the place for inventing something deemed very dangerous though what it is isn't immediately divulged. When Athena drops (almost literally) Casey on the driveway of said inventor, she approaches his unprepossessing abode, only to find he has no intention of allowing her in. When she tricks him and gains entry, she finds his home is a paranoiac's dream; surveillance gew-gaws and computers galore and an advanced security system. The man; Frank Walker (George Clooney), who we saw as little boy in the 1964 World's Fair; learns why Casey has shown up at his doorstep. He also discovers Nix's operatives have discovered his hideout. Frank and Casey manage to escape with the help of his ingenious techno-wizardry but not before Nix's thugs violently renovate his home.

In time, Frank explains that a machine of his design previously used to show people the possibilities of the future has since been re-purposed to show people disasters and war and everything negative. As a consequence, humanity is overcome by its own dark vision of the future, making it necessary to destroy the machine before the world is destroyed by man-made catastrophes. In order to accomplish this, Frank, Casey and Athena must defeat Nix and his minions, which involves finding a way back to Tomorrowland, whose entrance has since been destroyed.

And so the stage is set for a blah blah climax that only Disney could conceive. And in the end, we get an optimistic It's a Small World reprise of sorts with a host of multi-ethnic young folk answering the call to become mankind's visionaries.

Okay, so I get Disney's agenda to leave us with an upbeat, cheery coda but I'm not sure how the army of Tomorrowlanders will deal with the REAL problems gripping our world. If I sound like an incorrigible cynic, that's because I am and no amount of young folk appearing in a wheat field with Tomorrowland in walking distance can convince me that creative imagineering is enough (though I guess it's at least a start). I'm all for celebrating and fostering ingenuity but what the film peddles seems more like Disney's all-you-can-eat lip-service with some platitudes one might buy in Epcot Center.

George Clooney's charisma keeps the film from completely sinking and he probably comes along just at the right time because Britt Robertson, with all her hysteric hamming, is too feeble a presence to carry the story.

The film isn't beaten into submission with CGI the way The Avengers is, which is one positive assessment I can make about the movie.

If the trailer seemed monotonous to you, you'll be pleased to find the movie isn't as bad as that but whether one wants to spend ten bucks to arrive at this revelation is a decision best left to you. That's right, folks; I have seen the future--more specifically Tomorrowland--and it looks like DisneyWorld with glassy towers. All the film needs is a Mickey Mouse with the advanced AI seen in Ex Machina to fully realize its true marketing potential.