The Disney hype machine convinced me to see this one.

What’s It About? Frank, Casey, and Athena – three prodigious inventors from the past, present, and future – must travel through space and time to find the utopian city of Tomorrowland and prevent a global disaster.

STRAIGHT UP: Frustrating and inconsistent. 1.5/5

What I Liked

Hugh Laurie as Governor Nix – Laurie’s casting adds instant credibility to Nix, who turns out to be a surprisingly sympathetic villain… maybe too sympathetic, as anyone who doesn’t “buy in” to the film will surely find themselves agreeing with Nix’s rhetoric.

Frank Walker’s house – A scene takes place here in which Frank defeats a small army of evil Stepford robots with a bunch of Scooby-Doo traps. It’s fantastic.

Architectural marvels – From the futuristic cityscape of Tomorrowland to the ludicrous Eiffel Rocket, there are some pretty cool things to see in this movie.

Power of positivity – Tomorrowland is probably the most overtly optimistic major movie release I’ve seen in a while, and I can’t fault it for that.

What I Disliked

Plot problems – Lots of issues here. Stuttering opening scenes; a handful of plot holes and meaningless red herrings; inconsistent antagonists; unexplained lingo; and a failed attempt to add mystery elements. It’s a thin narrative, too – Tomorrowland gets so caught up in its establishing shots and exposition that it sometimes forgets to give its characters anything to do.

Excessive product placement – A two-minute scene where Casey drinks Coca-Cola like it’s the nectar of the gods. Futuristic cars with Chevy badges. Conspicuously-placed Star Wars props. It’s the future, brought to you by Corporations!

Negative characterization – The three main characters don’t get along for much of the film, and most of their dialogue ’til the end of the film consists of arguments that emphasize the disagreeable aspects of their personalities. Because of this, I didn’t warm up to the characters until late in the story.

A creepy confession – There’s a romantic subplot involving Athena and Frank that makes sense in the context of the story, but it will never not be weird watching a 12-year-old girl confess her feelings to a 54-year-old man.

Cloying and preachy – The movie’s messages about the power of positive thinking are so simplistic and heavy-handed that they’re actually annoying.

CLOSING THOUGHT: Tomorrowland reminds me of nothing so much as last year’s The Lego Movie – another film produced for family audiences by an international mega-corporation, intended to promote positivity and imagination while also featuring some degree of social commentary. However, The Lego Movie is definitively better – smarter, funnier, more exciting, more visually interesting, and boasting a stronger cast of characters. (Plus, its screenplay doesn’t include any gross Objectivist undertones.) I don’t really want to be mean to Tomorrowland – I know it’s Brad Bird’s dream project, and its heart is mostly in the right place – but I can’t recommend it. Go and rent The Lego Movie instead.