Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland – Science obsessed, Casey, is mysteriously given a pin which transports her to an incredible futuristic world. Discovering that the pin was given to her by a young girl, Athena, who is recruiting people to go to Tomorrowland, Casey finds herself face to face with former Tomorrowland inhabitant, Frank Walker, who has washed his hands of the place. Managing to persuade him to join her and Athena, the three try to find a way back there to figure out why no new people are allowed in anymore.

Tomorrowland (2015) – Director: Brad Bird

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45669574

Rating: 12

Running Length: 130 mins

Starring: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy

Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy, Science Fiction

REVIEW: ‘TOMORROWLAND’

‘Tomorrowland’ – also known as ‘A World Beyond’ is some areas – is an entirely unique action/adventure movie which champions intelligence and innovation over strength and aggression. The movie, really, has two protagonists, Frank Walker, who was recruited to Tomorrowland as a child in the ’60’s due to his remarkable talent and, in the present day, Casey Newton, a teenage girl who loves science. The connection between the two is a little confusing at first, especially when Frank’s storyline is abruptly abandoned and Casey is introduced without much lead-in.

The visuals and ideas in ‘Tomorrowland’ are nothing short of breath-taking, they’re beautiful, ingenious and, while they are futuristic, the confidence behind their conception makes them entirely believable. While the plot itself is quite simple, a lot is packed in to bolster the story which, to be honest, is a little superfluous. Adding so many extra elements makes it somewhat hard to follow at times and, with such a competent and charming lead in Clooney, these elements could easily have been trimmed in order to make the movie flow better.

‘Tomorrowland’ or ‘A World Beyond’ may be bloated with so many ideas that it becomes a little difficult to keep up with, but it is so enjoyable that it is worth sticking with until the (admittedly predictable) end.

CONTENT: IS ‘TOMORROWLAND’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

A young male character, Frank, travels alone to a large, highly populated event and, after befriending a young girl, he sneaks onto a ride she has told him about. It is a boat ride through a tunnel and, when a pin he is wearing is scanned by a laser beam, the floor opens and his boat travels down a ramp. He finds himself in pitch blackness and calls out for anyone who may be nearby. This lasts a few seconds and could be a little scary for younger kids.

When Frank arrives in Tomorrowland, he is on a walkway and gets stopped but large robots surround him before pushing him over the edge, which is clearly extremely high up. He lands hard on a walkway below and an angry-looking robot takes his bag, Frank is annoyed by this rather than afraid so it is likely his reaction will help kids see that the danger here is minimal.

A teenage girl is shown breaking into a facility at night, she plays around with some electrics and generally sabotages various things. It is made clear that she does this on a regular basis.

A teacher speaks to a class saying ‘Today, any nuclear country or terrorist is capable of inflicting damage on a massive scale with weapons of…’ the scene cuts to another teacher who speaks in a similar way but not quite so bleak!

Casey goes out on her own at night without telling anyone. Having the Tomorrowland pin means that her physical body is split between the two places although only her consciousness is with her in the futuristic city. Therefore she is completely unaware of where she is on Earth (and who may be around her). She does specifically choose an open field before transporting herself, however she ends up wading through deep water before being transported back.

In her hunt to discover more about Tomorrowland, she finds an address in another city online. She asks her little brother to lie to their dad, saying that she is going camping with friends but in reality she is going to the address alone without knowing who will be there.

When Casey gets to the address, she finds two seemingly nice people who soon turn evil, aiming and shooting ray guns at her. It is clear that they intend to kill Casey and another character who comes to help her. At one point, they both aim directly at Casey and shoot but the rays are stopped by a technology that only has a temporary effect so Casey must move quickly before she is killed.

A ‘bad’ character turns out to be a robot and when he is defeated, he is set to self-destruct. There is a close-up of his face as it blinks and spasms in a very unnatural, creepy way before he explodes.

A young girl who it has been established is a robot is run over by a truck. The driver gets out, panicking – not realising that he hasn’t actually hurt her. Another character uses this distraction to get away and does not spend any time checking whether the girl is alright. The girl is quickly seen running after the other character and is clearly unharmed.

At the scene of the aforementioned explosion, some police look around the rubble. A large black van arrives and men, looking like typical men in black agents approach the police. After a brief exchange which is relatively friendly, the ‘agents’ open fire on the cops, using weapons which completely vaporise their victims. This very casual murder of nice, friendly cops could be quite upsetting for some kids. This happens again to an incidental security guard later in the movie.

Casey travels in a vehicle with the young girl and falls asleep. When she wakes up, she realises she has been dumped by the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere with no way to get back home. She sees the vehicle driving away so it is clear this was a deliberate act. There is a run down house across the road which Casey goes to without hesitation, as she gets closer a large aggressive dog chases her but is stopped suddenly by a chain.

A character is mortally wounded and lies dying, cradled in the arms of a loved one. Diary extracts from many years previously are read allowed and the character holding them is deeply affected and has tears in their eyes. Shortly after, the dying character tells the other ‘You can let me go now’.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘TOMORROWLAND’ FOR KIDS?

‘Tomorrowland’ may be bloated but when that’s because it’s jam-packed full of compelling ideas, its hard to hold that against it! Due to the movie being a little hard to follow at times and with few typically ‘exciting’ action sequences, we feel this movie is appropriate for kids aged 11 and over.

Violence: 2/5
Emotional Distress: 2/5
Fear Factor: 2/5
Sexual Content: 0/5
Bad Language: 0/5
Dialogue: 2/5 (a young character asks another ‘Do you want to keep asking questions until someone arrives to murder us?’)
Other Notes: Deals with themes of futurism, technology, intellect, innovation, science, alternate worlds, tenacity and independence.

Words by Laura Record

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