By Lisa Johnson Mandell

First and foremost, you need to understand that Tomorrowland is NOT a George Clooney movie. The handsome superstar appears for a few brief moments at the beginning, and then it goes for very loooooooong stretches without him. Tomorrowland IS a kids’ movie, and not Disney’s best effort. This is essential information when you’re making your movie going decisions.

The young ‘uns will like it well enough I suppose — they probably won’t notice the poor editing, surprisingly awkward special effects and convoluted storyline. And they probably will notice that it’s about kids and kid robots who are both smarter and wiser than most of the adults in the room. I believe everyone will enjoy the retro future feel of the film. This Tomorrowland is the future as it was envisioned 50 years ago and constructed at the Disneyland theme park. The film begins at the Worlds Fair in Queens in the early 60’s, and is actually quite engaging until it fast forwards to now. That’s where things get uninteresting.

Brittany Robertson (whom you probably won’t remember from anything significant) endlessly mugs as Casey, a brainy nerd girl who finds a key, or a pin, rather, to Tomorrowland. The majority of the film is about her improbable efforts to return to this ideal world of the future that co-exists with the present. George Clooney is the curmudgeonly scientist who tries to help her get back to the future and save it. As a matter of fact, his character is a little like Christopher Lloyd’s in Back to the Future, only a little more ambitious, and a lot more, well you get the picture. Tim McGraw and Hugh Laurie are also on screen for a few minutes, and also painfully underutilized.

It comes as quite a shock that the film was directed, produced and co-written by Disney cinematic genius Brad Bird, the same guy responsible for The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol, all outstanding films. Perhaps Tomorrowland is just an unfortunate stumbling block on his way to The Incredibles 2. Much to my surprise and disappointment, Tomorrowland is likely to be here today, gone…

Rated PG

1 Hour 47 Minutes

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Tomorrowland Movie Review — Here Today…