Tomorrowland (2015)

A truly unique adventure from the wonderful world of Disney, this film becomes more enjoyable every time I watch it, though nothing can beat seeing it on the big screen as I did years ago.

Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) has always been fascinated by the stars. Able to name all the constellations and point them out from a very early age, she has always dreamed of going into outer space one day.

Living with her father Eddie (Tim McGraw) and younger brother Nate (Pierce Gagnon), she continues to chase her dream. Her father is an engineer with NASA, and she spends her evenings carrying out her own form of protest against the planned closure of a launch site at Canaveral.

After being arrested for vandalism one evening, she is taken into police custody. When she is finally bailed out (by her very disappointed father), she collects her belongings from the front desk. Included in her belongings is a small lapel pin (which she doesn’t recognise), but when she touches it, she is instantly transported into another world (although she can only see it when she is touching the pin; she is technically still in our world, but can see an incredible vision of a futuristic society).

Casey (Britt Robertson) discovers a lapel pin among her belongings after being
released from police custody.

Desperate to find out what the pin is, and how she can get back to this future world on a more permanent basis, she finds a collectable store online that is looking for the very pin she possesses: evidently it is a memorial pin from the World’s Fair in 1964.

But when she gets to the store, the couple trying to get their hands on the pin seem to not be all they seem. Ursula (Kathryn Hahn) and her husband Hugo (Keegan-Michael Key) even end up threatening her life, and would succeed if it wasn’t for the last-minute intervention of a young girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy).

It turns out that Hugo and Ursula are robots (actually, so is Athena) from this very society Casey is wanting to get to. Athena takes Casey on a road trip to find the one person who can get them both back there: Frank Walker (George Clooney), who met Athena when he was a little boy.

Athena - it turns out - has recruited Casey, believing her to be the last hope for saving both her world and ours.

Frank Walker (George Clooney) being pursued by robots.

But her world - ruled over by megalomaniacal Chancellor Nix (Hugh Laurie) - is reticent to help save our planet; as Nix himself says “You have the simultaneous epidemics of obesity and starvation”, and he doesn’t believe that Earth is worth saving.

The screenplay, written by Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird, is so unique and fast-paced, not letting you relax even for a moment; you will be on the edge of your seat from beginning to magnificent ending. All the characters are well-written, especially Athena and Chancellor Nix, neither of whom are what they first appear to be.

Michael Giacchino’s score is fabulous, big and expansive in just the right places, while also being subtle and understated when necessary. I first discovered Michael Giacchino’s music on the television series Lost; he has now scored a large number of Disney releases, and only seems to get better with each one.

As you would expect from a film that deals primarily with a futuristic world, one of the strongest elements of the film is its fantastic production design. Scott Chambliss has not only created a wonderful world in the society known as Tomorrowland, but also created some wonderful sets and props for our own world, with plenty of unique scientific inventions to satisfy any audience.

Frank Walker (George Clooney) and Athena (Raffey Cassidy) telling Casey
(Britt Robertson) about the importance of their mission.

The performances of the cast are equally fantastic, with plenty of credit going to acting stalwarts Clooney and Laurie. However, it is the film’s young cast that truly steal the show. Britt Robertson, who until this film had not taken on a role of this size, is magnificent as Casey. But newcomer Raffey Cassidy - playing the robotic Athena - is absolutely stunning, bringing to her character a deep wisdom (bear in mind, as a robotic character, she is obviously older than she looks) but also a vulnerability and innocence that I haven’t seen on screen in a long time. And her fight scenes - in which she did all her own stunts and choreography - will absolutely blow you away.

Director Brad Bird, who started his career in animation, directing among other things Pixar’s film The Incredibles, has made an incredibly enjoyable thrill-ride of a film here which, even upon multiple viewings, will continue to entertain and excite you.

8 1/2 out of 10.