Tomorrowland

A tremendous disappointment, Tomorrowland details the muddled, futuristic exploits of two extremely disparate characters: George Clooney’s grizzled Frank Walker and Britt Robertson’s comparatively wide-eyed Casey Newton. Filmmaker Brad Bird, working from a script cowritten with Damon Lindelof, has infused Tomorrowland with an unabashedly imaginative vibe that is, in the movie’s first half, impossible to resist, with the narrative boasting a heaping handful of exceedingly creative sequences that are heightened by some seriously impressive special effects. (The scenes set in an unspecified future are, to say the least, jaw-dropping.) It’s clear right from the get-go that scripters Bird and Lindelof aren’t interested in offering up an easily-digestible storyline, as Tomorrowland initially unfolds as a series of seemingly unconnected vignettes involving the two central characters – with the viewer’s confusion allayed by Bird’s often astonishing directorial sensibilities. (There is, for example, a breathtaking single-take shot following Casey’s first experience within the film’s Jetsons-like future landscape.) There reaches a point, however, at which the movie’s indecipherable plot becomes a serious impediment to one’s enjoyment, as it grows more and more difficult to work up any interest in or sympathy for the protagonists’ head-scratching endeavors. The progressively arms-length atmosphere ensures that the action-packed climax comes off as noisy and meaningless, and it’s hard to deny that Tomorrowland concludes with as palpable a thud as one could possibly envision – which is a shame, certainly, given the incredible promise of the movie’s early scenes.

** out of ****