Tomorrowland

“Tomorrowland” turns out to be a combination of “The Matrix,” “Interstellar” with a dash of “The Terminator.”

The film begins with a grouchy scientist, Frank Walker (George Clooney) recalling a story which begins with the World’s Fair in 1964 taking place in New York (demonstrating one of Walt Disney’s first rides). As a boy (portrayed by Thomas Robinson), Frank brings his would-be jetpack invention for inspection by a dubious judge, Nix (Hugh Laurie), meeting a young girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) in the process. She gives him a lapel pin with a “T” and he finds himself transported to a futuristic, beautiful space age city (Tomorrowland) along with his jetpack (which gets some adjustments). He meets Nix and Athena there, and he and the girl obviously have a special connection from the start.

The story then turns sharply to the current day with another narrator, Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), along with her father (Tim McGraw) and her little brother (Pierce Gagnon). They live next to the NASA station in Cape Canaveral. Like Frank, Casey is given a pin with a “T” that transports her to the same Tomorrowland world as in the beginning of the story, with several small vignettes showing fantastic future inventions (including an amazing, sci-fi diving pool routine).

However, after a couple of minutes, Casey’s trip is over, leaving her wanting more. Looking to discover the mystery about the pin, she travels to Texas. Soon the mysterious girl Athena appears to her brother, searching for Casey. Meanwhile, Casey ends up in a novelty shop with a strange couple (scene stealers Keegan-Michael Key and Kathryn Hahn) who question her strongly “where’s the little girl?” Athena (who is not what she appears to be) finds Casey and tells her that she is in major danger.

She then takes Casey to Frank’s home (decked out with some impressive gadgets), as he was sent back by the rulers of Tomorrowland for predicting an end to the world. Frank tells Casey to bug off and forget about Tomorrowland, but she doesn’t buy it. While they are arguing, Frank notices one of his many computer monitors flickering, showing a slightly better outcome for the future, and he is surprised.

Then Athena arrives to save them from being attacked by androids, and they end up traveling back to Tomorrowland, but this is a different place now. They get picked up by Nix and his underlings. Frank tries to tell Nix that they can fix things, but Nix has other (worse) plans for them. Then everything goes crazy and there is an all-out battle to try to save not only Tomorrowland, but Casey and Frank’s world as well.

The special effects for the film are outstanding, from the recreated 1960s era around the World’s Fair, to an eye-dropping spectacle that occurs at the Eiffel Tower, to the Tomorrowland city itself. Not to mention the grinning, dangerous androids (reminiscent of Jim Carrey’s smiling visage of his alter-ego in “The Mask”), who are there at every turn to destroy Casey, Frank and Athena.

“Tomorrowland” was written and directed by Brad Bird, with Damon Lindelof as the other screenwriter and the story by Jeff Jensen. Clooney gives an entertaining, ironic performance, and newcomers Cassidy (a poignant standout) and Robertson (a bright and energetic actress) are excellent. McGraw as the concerned father and Laurie as Nix give the film added emotional weight. Dark and mysterious with the idea to think positive no matter what, this film should make an interesting impression on the public.