Wednesday, 27 May 2015

Film Review - Tomorrowland

Possibly some accidental spoilers in here but most are in the trailer so I am going to call this one as safe to read before watching.

Tomorrowland is a decent scifi-for-kids effort.

There are the usual Disney problems. A teen being played by a 25 year old. Too many crowd shots where people just stand around looking lost while someone lectures at them. Some fairly major holes in the story. Some blatant advertising, for Disney, Coke, Chevrolet, ...  but obviously they couldn't get Wilkinson or Gillette onboard so Clooney looks like a homeless bum throughout.

There is a pointless segue to the eiffel tower which seems purely to spend the special effects budget on turning a recognisable landmark into a rocket, and yet 'Home' managed to do that same trick much better two months ago. 

It is very preachy to the point that you almost forgive the bad guy when he explains how he has only really given up on mankind since we have given up on ourselves.

There are still plenty of good things though. 

Top of the list is Raffey Cassidy as Athena. She steals scenes left, right and centre. Near the end you think this might be due to Clooney and Laurie having the skill to work in the spaces around her but actually she pretty much owns the film in the first half hour, long before either of them show up. 

The androids with the fake smiles are extremely creepy but in a way that isn't going to terrify children. 

A lot of the other futuristic gadgets and toys are well executed, if unrealistic. And in order to smooth them out the special effects throughout the whole film are pretty seamless. I especially liked the super-powered fire extinguisher which is given a lot less credit than it deserves. 

It has been unfortunate to come out close to some better targeted fayre. The special effects and storyline aren't going to drag any men away from the awesome Mad Max reboot. Clooney's scruffy old man look and his recent marriage will be costing them any of the female viewers that would have gone primarily to drool over him so they are all off to watch Pitch Perfect. And you could take kids to any film at the minute and the highlight of their day is going to be the Minions trailer instead of the main movie. 

Overall 6 out of 10.

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