Helloooooo, Blogianz!
Ok, so I saw Tomorrowland the other day. Actually, like a week ago. Or something. Hmm, I'm off to a good start...
Anyway! I saw Tomorrowland the other day, and I thought I'd do a short review on it. You know, instead of sleeping. Like a normal person.
If you haven't seen Tomorrowland or don't know what it's about, here's the movie's own description:
Bound by a shared destiny, a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor jaded by disillusionment embark on a danger-filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space that exists in their collective memory as "Tomorrowland."
Well, let me go ahead and tell you that description is, well, not accurate.
Yes, there is a "bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity" (played by Britt Robertson) and there is a jaded inventor (played by George Clooney). And yes, there's danger involved. Buuut, no one's really unearthing any Tomorrowland secrets. Not really. And the place doesn't exist in memory. That statement's literally nonsense. Space and time? Yes. Collective memory? No.
And this description doesn't even mention Athena (Raffey Cassidy)! The girl that brings Casey (Robertson) and Frank (Clooney) together! Which actually brings me to the "Bound by a shared destiny" silliness. There was no "destiny". It was Athena. It should read "Brought together by a mysterious young girl, a bright, optimistic..." etc, etc.
Actually, yeah, let me just rewrite the dang thing:
Brought together by a mysterious young girl, a bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a disillusioned inventor embark on a danger-filled mission to prevent the end of the world by travelling through space and time to a place called "Tomorrowland".
There. That's a hundred times better, completely accurate, and took me fifteen seconds to think of and write. I'm not saying it's the best summary ever, but hey, it's a start!
I did leave out the "former boy-genius" part because, although vaguely important, it's really just fluff, whereas Casey's "bright, optimistic teen bursting with scientific curiosity" is actually relevant and important to the story. No, I won't tell you why.
What I will say, is that Casey's and Frank's contrasting optimism and pessimism complement each other very nicely, especially early in the movie when they first meet. And all the main characters are played stunningly well by the cast. Nothing felt stilted or over-dramatic. It felt very real to me. Though I will say, for a good while, I thought Casey's younger brother, Nate (Pierce Gagnon), and the boyhood-Frank (Thomas Robinson) were the same actor. They look like they should be related! But maybe that's just me.
Now, I don't want to get into the story much, because I'm aiming to write a spoiler-free review, but I did touch on it with my summary up there. Casey Newton is the daughter of a former NASA engineer (he's in the process of being laid off) and happens to be quite gifted at "knowing how things work". She's upset that NASA's tearing a launch station down, and so she sabotages the deconstruction to keep her father in work. She also believes if she just lets it get torn down it's like giving up hope. Or something like that. Like I said, I saw this like a week ago. The important thing is that she ends up getting caught in the act and gets brought "downtown". Her dad posts her bail and, among Casey's possessions, she finds a mysterious "T" pin that, upon touching it, brings her to another place entirely in her mind. Not physically, however, as her body still moves about our world. This is what propels Casey forward into wanting to get to "Tomorrowland".
In her search, Casey meets Athena, who brings her to Frank. From there the movie starts to really pick up speed. And frankly, it's a fun ride. I only ever had a couple issues with the story, but they were smaller issues that don't break the action or flow of the movie. Although it is very much a type of movie you need to sit back and let happen. Don't try to "figure it out" as you go, too much and you'll enjoy it.
Now, I said I wanted to make this a short review, so I'm going to jump into scoring it now. But before I do, I want to mention some of the other reviews I've seen around and how I review things. I've noticed Tomorrowland didn't actually do all that hot on other review sites. IMDb gave it a 6.8/10, Rotten Tomatoes a 49%, and Metacritic a 60%. Those are some pretty lackluster reviews, but I imagine the reasoning behind those reviews weren't entirely the film's fault. I say this on account of the movies description. You know, the one I was rewriting several paragraphs ago. And I say this on account of the trailers leading up to the release. I don't think the movie was accurately represented in its promotion, which lead to different expectations than the movie provided. I, myself, really had no idea what I was supposed to expect from the promotional items before release. No idea. So, for some, this could have lead to disappointment.
However! I have a very simple rating system. It's only out of 5 points, but each point means something. In this case, I'd give Tomorrowland a 4/5. It's a good movie. Not phenomenal or an instant classic, but good. Watch it with a friend while it's still in theaters or rent it when it comes out on DVD.
If you have seen the movie and would like to agree/disagree with my review, just let me know in that comment section down below! If you haven't seen the movie, do you plan to?
I want to thank you for reading, and I'll see you on my next one!
Bye!
Weston Hasty
"MagicManMo"
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