“Tomorrowland” tries to convey a sense of openness, but the third act robs the film of a chance to mesh its special effects with the characters, derailing the story.
It has a solid premise and I believe that the story is set up in a very excellent way. Brad Bird knows his way around film (THE INCREDIBLES, MISSION; IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL) and animation. However, on the way to the second act, Disney and Damon Lindelof (STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, PROMETHEUS) got in the way of the story. It’s truly too bad too because the story starts off so very strongly.
It is probably one of the better effects movies of this year and is very pretty to look at. I don’t usually like a whole lot of CGI, but Bird’s experience in animated films really helped to serve an otherwise underwhelming story. The sound, especially in Dolby Atmos was really engaging, making brilliant use of the surround and overhead channels.
If Dolby Vision is half of what they say it is and Terry, maybe Bill will be in a position to confirm this, I do believe that this is the movie that will sell High Dynamic Range to the masses, whether it be on the big screen or the small screen.
Watching TOMORROWLAND left me with the same impression I had of JUPITER ASCENDING – it made me feel like I was watching a Sci Fi film out of the 80’s, ICE PIRATES, FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR, WARGAMES, REAL GENIUS, THE NEVER ENDING STORY. TOMORROWLAND has all the trappings of the negative world events of the 80’s, like the Cold War and M.A.D., or famine, etc. And, like the other films, it made me feel like the “me” as a kid, full of hope for the human race, that we can save our planet and work together to be a better species and allowed my imagination to soar.
The effects alone dictate that it be experienced on a big screen. MAD MAX was a true popcorn/summer film of the modern cinema. TOMORROWLAND, for all its challenges is what popcorn was made for