Peek into the future

Tomorrowland
English (U/A) Cast: George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy, others
Director: Brad Bird

From the famed house of Disney comes Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland with quintessential elements that make awesome cinema. However, Bird, two-time Oscar winner, is not up to it in Tomorrowland. For, Bird makes heavy weather of his sumptuously mounted, visually enchanting futuristic world, reminiscent of several similar sci-fi flicks.

The enthralling high-adrenaline epic adventure seeks to give audiences fleeting glimpses of an imaginary land where nothing is impossible. Tackling ubiquitous themes of relationships between young and old, technological progress and resultant disillusionment, Tomorrowland, whose principal tenet is children are future, is an inspirational magnum opus with towering silvery skyscrapers, tall and sleek robots, aerial highways, spires, levitating trains, green spaces and glittering waterfalls, a virtual Shangri-La. Though one is enthralled by the glitzy creation, sadly Bird’s Tomorrowland fails to actively engage, losing its plot as the director takes to pontificating young adults on what lies tomorrow and importance of their role to make the world a better place to inhabit.

Tomorrowland, which actually turns more into a road movie, where danger stalks at every nook, revolves around Frank Walker, resentful and reclusive scientist banished for his discovery of the world’s impending doom. The former genius, weighed down by disillusionment, coaxed by a teenage girl, Casey Newton, gifted with scientific bent of mind, who finds a mysterious pin with letter T on it, to action.  Whenever she touches it, the pin pitchforks her to an unknown place in a jiffy where the world changes. Her quest to unravel its secret, leads Casey to doorstep of Frank Walker, where the rather reluctant Frank bestirs himself to help her explore Tomorrowland, a utopian world of future that is present today. Fortuitously for Casey, she is chosen by Tomorrowland as one who can save the world.