Official Synopsis
Former boy genius Frank (George Clooney), optimistic, science-minded teen Casey (Britt Robertson), mysterious Athena (Raffey Cassidy) and the brilliant David Nix (Hugh Laurie) in a world of pure Disney imagination. Tomorrowland transports you on an inspiring and magical journey of wonder and adventure to a place where if you can dream it, you can do it.
The biggest complaint I heard about Tomorrowland is the lack of a second act. What happens sometimes in stories is that the writer has hooked themselves to over-explain the purpose of characters instead of trusting their writing to reveal that gradually. When this happens it creates a terrible imbalance for the three act structure, thus shorting one of the acts from developing. Such is the case with Tomorrowland.
Let’s get right into this, shall we?
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The first act starts off interesting enough. It spends time introducing Frank and Casey, even from the get-go when Frank is talking into a camera about some sort of timed tragedy that is going to befall humankind. After giving the audience some tidbits, the act kicks into flashback gear, giving us a healthy dose of backstory for both characters. The first act, while certainly interesting enough, has a lot of exposition to get through. You get to learn Frank’s past, Casey’s present, a machine that Frank creates, the enemies, the friends and it lasts about half the film. The end of the first act leaves off with our main trio, Frank, Casey and robot Athena, about to go into the belly of the beast and reveal the main plot point that is driving the movie.
Anytime the first act takes over the first half of the film, you know there is trouble. Simply put, there is just too much exposition in regards to the characters. It’s as if Damon Lindelof doesn’t trust himself. We learn too much about Frank, not enough about Casey (and why she is chosen to do what she does) and certainly not enough about Athena and Frank’s past relationship. Instead, we just get a lot of information and slow moving moments that seem to drag a bit in act one. In short, act one is too big and it hurts act two and three considerably.
Act two begins with Frank, Casey and Athena finally making it back to Tomorrowland, a place where Frank was banished for some horror-creation he conceived. While Tomorrowland is introduced nicely through Casey earlier in act one, the trio find that the place is nothing more than a mere shell of itself. The big reveal and reasoning for Frank’s exile and Tomorrowland’s demise should be a huge ‘boom’ at this point, but there is little time for a build-up, which means it comes out far less surprising than it should. Act two lasts as long as a popsicle on a hot summer day.
Act two was quick, uneventful and seemed poorly put together. The overall message was spot on, though. I get what Lindelof and Bird wanted to accomplish, but the poorly structured script (and this was poorly structured, folks) just didn’t allow for enough time for act two to be meaningful. And that’s really all that has to be said, as the acting and the intrigue were there for the second act. The payoff just didn’t get enough time to develop and happen.
Anyway, as usual I will not ruin act three. It’s a fun ending, but because of what happened to act two it isn’t as powerful. That’s a real shame because this movie could have been spectacular.
Director Brad Bird got about as much as he could from Tomorrowland, but ultimately the script failed him. It was unbalanced with its acts and contained way too much exposition.I could see the potential, but it just couldn’t deliver.
On the Blu-ray side of the release, it’s one helluva release. It’s a perfect transfer that looks absolutely gorgeous. I would love to see this film on a 4K format, as I’m sure it would be stunning As it stands, it’s perfect. There are no imperfections, no color banding issues why, it’s nothing but perfection.
What you get in the special features department is as follows:
· Remembering the Future: A Personal Journey Through Tomorrowland with Brad Bird
· Casting Tomorrowland
· A Great Big Beautiful Scoring Session
· The World of Tomorrow Science Hour – Hosted By Futurologist David Nix (Blu-ray and DMA Exclusive)
· Animated Short: The Origins of Plus Ultra
· Brad Bird Production Diaries
· Blast from the Past Commercial
· Deleted Scenes with Filmmaker Intro
· 4 Easter Eggs
Solid features that point to what might have been. Seriously strong features that will make the added value of this purchase far better.
Onto the summary!