And, here I am again with another movie review. This time, a family-friendly science fiction
adventure from Disney: “Tomorrowland.”
I don’t usually go in for this PG-rated goody-goody
stuff. (The fiction I write tends more
to the dark side.) But, I was pleasantly
surprised by this film. It’s gotten
luke-warm box office returns and mixed reviews, but I enjoyed it
tremendously.
It’s premise and plot are unconventional (which hasn’t
earned it too many fans) but I found its eccentricity refreshingly original
and endearing. It introduces itself with
a bit of self-satirizing banter between the story’s two main protagonists,
arguing with each other as to where the story really begins. They decide to begin it at a 1960’s world’s
fair, with Frank Walker, a young boy who seems to embody the scientifically
pioneering, forward-looking, dreamy-eyed spirit of the America of an earlier
day. The kid has invented a jet pack (which
doesn’t work in any practical way, but is still loads of fun) and dreams of
bright future eras of scientific advancement.
A mysterious little girl entices him into a fantastic adventure,
transporting him as if by magic into a futuristic utopian world that is
everything he’s ever dreamed the future could be. That was then. Of course, we all know, America’s dream didn’t
come true.
So, half a century later, the starry-eyed boy whose dreams
failed has grown up into a grumpy, embittered, cynical, eccentric scientist
(played by George Clooney, if you can believe it, ladies) living alone in a
run-down house, protected by his futuristic gadgetry and cut off from the outside
world. The current crop of young dreamers
is represented by Casey Newton, a feisty teenaged girl (played by Brit
Robertson) whose father works as a space engineer for NASA. As the space program’s budget dries up, her
dad’s career spiraling into a black hole and America’s capacity to dream
following suit, Casey rebels, refusing to believe the spark of imagination is
truly dead. Contacted by the same
mysterious girl (who turns out to be an android) who reached out to Frank Walker
back in the day, she glimpses the future world he once saw and sets out on a
cross-country adventure to find him, pursued every step of the way by killer
androids from the future. “Terminator”
on a Disney road trip. What more could
you ask?
The special effects are imaginative and beautiful, making
artful use of an imagined holographic technology. You see an illusory world, while walking
blind through the real one, bumping your head against invisible walls. Memorable scenes include the young heroine
transported in her mind into the future world while riding in a seemingly
invisible car or walking chest-deep into a lake, two worlds merging, dream-like. The film has something for everybody, but to
an aging sci-fi buff like me, it hit close to home. As in a scene where Casey’s quest leads her to
a sci-fi curio shop run by a way-out, freakishly eccentric couple who satirize
the science fiction lovers of this world.
The film is a rebellion against the post-apocalyptic science
fiction which is currently popular, reminding us of the more optimistic brand
of science fiction that was popular in an earlier day. Back when we still dreamed of better days
ahead, still daring to believe that human beings are capable of reaching for
the stars through our own ingenuity. The
message of the film is summed up in a quaint riddle Casey learns from her
dad: Two wolves fight. One embodies despair, the other hope. Which wolf wins? Answer:
Whichever one you feed.
The film is the most fun when it turns into a wild chase
story which takes us from the U.S. to Paris, France. The joy of this film is in its sheer
wackiness. Parts of it reminded me of
Doctor Who. Other parts reminded me of
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and the DaVinci Code. From a butt-kicking, yet endearing artificial
intelligence that outwardly looks like a twelve-year-old girl, to the
absolutely absurd idea that the Eiffel tower is actually a gigantic antenna
build to receive sub-space radio signals from other dimensions, it’s a
wonderfully fun and wild romp through the impossible. We’re told that Gustave Eiffel, Thomas
Edison, Jules Verne and Nikola Tesla headed a consortium of geniuses who wanted
to create a utopian world of pure scientific research, free of the interference
of greed, war or politics. We see the
Eiffel tower split open, revealing a hidden rocket silo beneath the streets of
Paris. Our heroes launch into outer
space and slip into another universe, where the utopian world of scientists
abides. Or, rather, doesn’t. The dream of a better world has failed. The question is, why?
Turns out, Frank Walker killed the dream. How?
He invented a machine that reveals the future. And yes, the future is dystopian. Global warming, ecological collapse, war. Walker had figured that if the disbelieving
masses could be shown that their present path led inevitably to disaster, they
would do the right thing and change course, creating a better future. It didn’t work. The leader of the failed scientific utopia
(the villain of the piece) explains that showing people the apocalypse breeds
only despair, not hope; it makes them feed the wrong wolf. “Showing them the apocalypse only made them
embrace it,” he explains. “They wrote
books and made movies about it. It
became a culture. They lost all hope.”
This hit home for me, too.
I’ve attended a lot of strategy sessions with ecological activists
debating about what is the most effective strategy for educating the public
about the dangers of pollution and ecological damage. There are basically two schools of
thought: one which advocates frightening
the public with disconcerting scientific evidence, and one which says that a
more positive approach is more effective.
I’ve personally leaned more to the former, while this movie advocates
the latter.
The film ends in a typical sci-fi action film way, with the
citadel of evil collapsing in a cataclysmic explosion. But, the failed dream is rekindled, bright
young minds from all over the world recruited to build a better future. Hope springs eternal.
This film is never going to know the success of Harry
Potter, but it certainly deserves an “A” for effort. It’s a kid’s film on the face of it, but it
carries a message very much for adults.
An important message which, sadly, many will simply shrug off. The ambition of a writer to convey a message
to his or her audience through fiction is a difficult challenge: To make the story the conveyer of the message
in such a way as not to alienate the audience by being “preachy.” Some writers make the attempt. Most who do fail. But, it’s a noble endeavor. And, hit or miss, you might put on a great
show trying.
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