Look around at the world today, and there is no mistaking that there is chaos everywhere. But what are we doing about it? We can't allow ourselves to ignore the future. This is a big point in Disney's Tomorrowland.
Tomorrowland did not do well at the box office, considering that it is "hard to market original movies," according to the production team. The film stars Britt Robertson as Casey Newton, an optimistic teen, George Clooney as Frank Walker, a grumpy, old inventor, and Hugh Laurie as Governor David Nix.
SUMMARY
Young inventor Frank Walker attends the 1964 World's Fair, with a new creation of his. He shows one of the judges his very own jetpack. While the man is unimpressed, a young girl named Athena takes an interest.After Frank leaves, Athena finds him. She gives him a pin with the letter "T" on it and instructs him to follow her and her group from a distance. Eventually, Frank boards the "It's a Small World” ride behind Athena. Inside the ride, his pin is scanned, and he is taken to a secret underground lake. There, he enters a machine that transports him to another dimension.
Frank exits the machine and explores his surroundings. He finds himself on a landing platform covered in fog. But after a mishap with some robots (including a repaired jetpack) and machinery, he and his jetpack fall. However, his jetpack works, and he soars towards a giant, majestic city. Once he lands, he runs into Athena. She tells him that he has found "Tomorrowland."
Fast-forward to the present where we meet teenager Casey Newton. Casey is very smart and incredibly clever. However, she uses her talents to shut down NASA tech so that her dad (a NASA engineer) is not laid off.But her luck soon runs out, and she is caught by the police. As she is about to be released from custody, she is instructed to pick up her belongings. However, among her possessions is something that does not belong to her: a mysterious pin. Little did she know, the girl Athena had placed Casey's DNA in the pin and planted it with her belongings.
Casey begins to grab the pin, but she suddenly finds her surroundings suddenly changed. In fear, she drops the pin and is back in the police station. After reaching to touch the pin a second time, Casey is transported to a wide-open field.
Eventually, Casey's dad comes to bring her home. In the car, Casey attempts to explain to her dad what happened, but he just dismisses it as acting up. At home, Casey experiments with the pin. In the other world, she enters a sprawling, futuristic metropolis. As she walks through the city, she follows a group of "cadets." They board a monorail train and invite her aboard. But the other world disappears, and Casey is in the middle of a pond.
Through research, Casey finds a science fiction store in Texas that has connections to the pin. She leaves home and heads on a trip for Houston. At the store, Casey asks the two owners about the pin, but they are reluctant to reveal any information. They quickly interrogate Casey about the pin and where she got it. They soon pull out guns, and as Casey is about to be attacked, Athena bursts in the window and helps Casey escape.
Athena then drives with Casey in the passenger seat. They travel to an inconspicuous, worn-down house, where Athena leaves Casey. The inhabitant is the inventor Frank Walker, who stubbornly refuses Casey to enter his house. Eventually, Casey makes her way inside and discovers Frank's invention: a doomsday clock that counts down the time till utter destruction.
After surviving a robot attack, Frank and Casey meet up with Athena and travel to Paris, where they open a portal to Tomorrowland. There, they encounter a drab, dying city. They are met by the self-proclaimed governor, David Nix, where he reveals that he is feeding humanity's obsession over the apocalypse. Casey, Frank, and Athena must work together using their creativity to defeat Nix and restore hope to our depressed world.
CONTENT
Robots often use their guns to vaporize people into dust. These same robots, who appear to be actual humans, are smashed, stabbed, and abused, particularly in the scene where they attack Frank's house. In the same vein, a robot girl is hit by a truck but jumps back into action, unharmed. This same robot removes some fake skin to reveal machinery. A young boy receives some small injuries while testing a jetpack. Also, the heroes undergo some minor injuries when they fall and trip several times throughout the film.
*SPOILER* A boy falls in love with a robot girl (unbeknownst to him), and the two later meet when he is an adult, which at times makes these scenes seem awkward. *END SPOILER* Also, a robot girl's stomach acts as a storage compartment and we see some fake skin, but there is nothing sensual about this scene.
I enjoyed Tomorrowland, but I will state my disappointments first. The film really seems to be trying to play both sides of its political audience. It touches on indoctrination from an all-powerful government and also promotes environmentalism. So it speaks to different political beliefs, which can turn out to be good or bad (more on that later).
In light of the bad reviews Tomorrowland has received, my low expectations were far exceeded. The plot of an impending apocalypse has been overdone in films (War of the Worlds, The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day, just to name a few). However, Tomorrowland takes a heavily-used genre and turns a new twist on it. Yes, destruction may be near, but what are humans doing about it? God knows when the end will be, but we are not to be idle in waiting for it. Christians have a responsibility to take care of the Earth and people that God has created. As one character says in the film, "What reasonable human being wouldn't be galvanized by the potential destruction of everything they've ever knwon or loved?...They gobbled it up like a chocolate eclair! They didn't fear their demise, they re-packaged it. It could be enjoyed as video-games, as TV shows, books, movies, the entire world wholeheartedly embraced the apocalypse and sprinting towards it with gleeful abandon." Our culture has embraced the apocalypse as an exciting event to be marketed in our mainstream media. People today are sadly fascinated with the destruction of the world. The film quote later goes on: "We saw the iceberg and warned the Titanic. But you all just steered for it anyways full steam ahead. Why? Because you want to sink! You gave up!" Christians must never give up. To give up is to give in to the despair and doom of our culture. Instead, let us work to save and redeem the culture. Only God knows the end, we don't. So why should we not work as hard as we can to seek and save the lost, through Christ?
Today's self-centered culture, especially the younger generations, are focused on the here and now. What makes me happy in this moment? There is very little attention paid to the future and the consequences of our actions. This is partially why we have seen an increase in problems such as teen delinquencies, teen pregnancies, and other troubles.
As far as the environmentalist messages of the film, there are lessons to be learned here also. Our Creator mandated us to have no other gods before Him. This includes avoiding the worship of nature. However, our Lord also meant for mankind to be the caretakers of His creation.Michael Giacchino did a fantastic job with the musical score. It fit perfectly with this film and stands very nicely on its own. I count this as one of my favorite film scores of 2015!
Director Brad Bird has, I believe, effectively fused adventure, science fiction, and apocalypse. Almost all apocalyptic films end with humanity winning, but Tomorrowland does something that none have ever done before. It answers the question, "What are we to do?" For Christians, that is a vital question for our evangelistic calling, and I suggest Francis Schaeffer's book How Shall We Then Live? to help in learning where we are going.
In the end, Tomorrowland has its share of flaws, but it is an important film for this time in history. I enjoyed it immensely and I think it is a rare gem that is both relatively clean, but also realistically portrayed.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Length: 130 minutesRating: PG (for sequences of sci-fi action violence and peril, thematic elements, and language)
Director: Brad Bird
Producers: Brad Bird, Damon Lindelof, Jeffrey Chernov
Music: Michael Giacchino
Year of release: 2015
Primary audience: Pre-teens, teens, adults
