"Britt Robertson and George Clooney both do a good job of bringing their respective characters to life"
When a scientifically gifted young girl, Casey (Britt Robertson), is given a mysterious pin, she discovers that touching it has the ability to transport her into another, futuristic world. In searching for its meaning, she meets a cynical former boy-genius, Frank (George Clooney), who has a little more history in that world than he desires. Despite both of their objections, they discover that they must team up in order to protect themselves and the world at large.
“Tomorrowland: A World Beyond” is reminiscent of old-school Disney. It is full of hope for the future, that fantastic old belief in the goodness of humankind winning in the end. There must be a happy ending, surely? It’s quite refreshing amidst the countless Sci-Fi epics that tout the end of the world; humankind destroys all with greed and doesn’t care until the moment the apocalypse is on their doorstep.
The old-school theme continues when we are brought into the futuristic new world. There is something distinctly evocative of Hanna-Barbera’s “The Jetsons” in this world, right down to the 1960s Sci-Fi costumes. In fact, when we first step in, there is something almost unnervingly 1960s airport-y about the whole thing. Casey is welcomed with open arms, everyone seemingly expects her, and everything’s so calm and smiley that the majority of the English audience, at least, will find themselves very untrusting of the situation in the way that they are when someone in a supermarket wishes them to “Have a nice day!”. I’ll be honest; this part grated on me a little. Luckily there is a reason for this intense cheesiness, as explained later in the film, so it is worth gritting your teeth and sidling past it.
Britt Robertson and George Clooney both do a good job of bringing their respective characters to life. Britt is sufficiently smart and optimistic; George is sufficiently grouchy and pessimistic. But here-in lies my problem with this film: the word I could use to describe the majority of it is ‘sufficient’. It is by no means a bad film but it’s not a great film either and when watching the offerings of powerhouses such as Disney and George Clooney, you expect the spectacular. Both Britt and George, although not bad in their roles by any means, lack any real exuding passion resulting in cookie cutter characters that could be played by anyone with half a teaspoon of talent. The same goes for the majority of the characters in this tale.
The one exception to this trend, however, is Raffey Cassidy as Athena. An obvious talent that should be admired, she manages to bring great depth and empathy to a character which is possibly one of the hardest in the film to play (you’ll have to watch to see why, no spoilers here). Her screen presence alone makes it difficult to watch anyone else and with pivotal scenes alongside Mr Clooney, she more than holds her own.
Personally, I don’t believe that “Tomorrowland: A World Beyond” will follow in the footsteps of Disney’s previous theme-park-ride-turned-movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”. I do not see a multi-million dollar franchise in its future. Although entertaining, it was also distinctly underwhelming. I would advise waiting for a lazy Sunday afternoon when you can eventually pop it on on Netflix rather than seeking it out in the cinema.