The Message is Clear in ‘Tomorrowland’

By Ea Nicole Madrigal

Disney has been teasing its summer blockbuster Tomorrowland for over a year now. This Friday, audiences nationwide finally had the opportunity to see the studio’s latest addition to its non-animated collection of films. For the young and for the young at heart, Tomorrowland does not disappoint.

The film begins in the 1960s as a young Henry Walker (played by Thomas Robinson) goes to the World’s Fair to share his latest invention: a jetpack. Although Hugh Laurie’s character (Nix) is at first not impressed with Henry’s creation, Athena (played by Raffey Cassidy) is enamored by it and invites Henry to come to a fantastical place: Tomorrowland (or better described in the context of this film, the place that “could be”).

As suddenly as the audience is introduced to young Henry, the audience also comes to know both adult Henry (played by George Clooney) and the teenage star of the film, Casey Newton (played by Britt Robertson). Newton is somewhat of a young scientific rebel, but more so, she believes in a better world and the progress of scientific research. Both Clooney and Robertson’s characters represent “the dreamers” of society who must salvage mankind from man-made destruction.

But of course, the story is much more than this. Without giving away some of the best details and scenarios, much of the film follows the adventure of adult Henry, Newton, and Athena as they attempt to go “back to the future” (or more correctly, back to Tomorrowland) and save the world. In the meantime, we discover that Athena is not human, Newton’s glimpse at Tomorrowland was more of an advertisement than reality, and Henry has grown cynical that the world can ever improve.

Throughout the story, humor and action match perfectly, in only a way Damon Lindelof has mastered so well. His artistic creativity is on full display as he imagines a world that is simultaneously in the future and in the present. At the same time, it cannot go without notice that the entire art direction of this film is brilliant with scenes from an imaginary world where cars fly, there is a hover public transport, and people can dive in swimming pools several stories high (with the greatest of ease, of course).

One of my favorite aspects of the film is the score composed by Michael Giacchino. The waves of drama in his sound are matched by the adventurous and futuristic tone of the film itself. And quite honestly, the crescendo toward the end of the film, combined with the obvious creative approach by the director to hone in on the movie’s message one final time, made me tear up a bit.

However, therein lays one of the flaws of Tomorrowland. For adults more so than children, perhaps the film returns so much to the clear message of humanity’s role in the demise of societies that it becomes a bit dull at times. This, of course, is not the first time that children’s films have possessed an underlying societal message; and there is no doubt that many of these messages (whether transparent or not) are important. However, redundancy can often be distracting to the fun of the film as a whole. And it was the fun of Tomorrowland that makes it worth watching (with the entire family).

This is a completely family-friendly movie. It is a film to start the summer movie season with. Humorous and filled with imagination, Tomorrowland is a film worthy of the Disney brand.

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