Tomorrowland
I re-watched Tomorrowland for the IndieWeb Movie Club May selection chosen by Tantek. I think I initially watched it around 2016, also on his recommendation. I recalled it being visually captivating and OK overall, but unfortunately the story did not stick with me so I didn’t remember much of it going into this re-watch.
No major spoilers below, only brief description of an establishing scene which I don’t think spoils anything.
I’m still left with an “It’s just OK” feeling about it. The moral of the story is decent and hopefully inspiring to people: let’s dream, imagine, and work towards a better future. But it also felt a bit cliche in the ways it sets up and communicates that. For example, early on there are scenes of Casey in high school being taught about wars, climate change, authoritarianism, and everything wrong with the world, all from cynical teachers who sound resigned to it as if nothing could be made better. Driving that point home, they persistently ignore her raised hand until finally she asks, “Can we fix it?” Sure, doomers exist, but every teacher? Maybe I’m expecting too much from a family-friendly PG movie, but it seems like it could be communicated with more nuance.
The storytelling felt a bit clunky in the ways it jumped between action scenes and dialogue and I found the resolution a bit underwhelming.
Still, Casey’s optimism and adventurous spirit is welcomed. It is nice to see a teen girl character portrayed like her. I hope she is inspiring to young people.
Here are some quotes I liked from the movie and other tidbits:
- “Can it just be fun?” – young Frank responding to a question of why make something
- “What if there’s nothing there? What if there’s everything?!” – young Casey referring to traveling in space
- “It’s hard to have ideas and easy to give up.” – Casey
- I love to try visiting links that are shown in movies to see if they have easter eggs or still work. Props to Disney for maintaining blastfromthepast-houston.com that’s shown in this movie. There are no easter eggs, though; it just redirects to disney.com.
- The end credits animation done by yU+co was lovely
IndieWeb Movie Club is a monthly blog carnival where a different host suggests a movie, people watch it, and then write about it. Next month’s film is Mary Poppins. Feel free to join in!
Edit: here is Jo’s post about the June IndieWeb Movie Club.