When I was a young child, I remember that I loved to dream a lot. I would feel so blissful whenever I had pleasant dreams when I slept and I would try to cry in despair when I awoke from them. You must understand that a socially-awkward and fantasy-prone personality like mine usually led to a lot of lunchtimes spent alone by myself and far away from the world. I would climb up to the very top of the rope pyramid and watch all the other children play below, wishing I was cool enough to be with them, or when I grew bored of that, just gaze off into space and wish I was in another universe altogether. Dare I say I wasn’t bothered? I enjoyed reveling in my creativity, in exercising the singular most powerful force in the human mind- the imagination.
It was the great theoretical physicist Albert Einstein who famously said that imagination is more powerful than knowledge. My interest in physics aside, I would shake the man’s hand just for that if I could. I am a fervent believer in the imagination, and I believe it has been taken for granted. Everything we have in the modern world- computers, the World Wide Web, electronic purchasing, theme parks- was constructed by technology but inspired by the imagination. What good would it do for people whose imaginations have no boundary to sit idly by and not do anything about it? What if Bill Gates decided to give up his dreams of Microsoft? What if Henry Ford never focused on the Model T? I have always thought that it is important for people to express their creativity whenever possible; otherwise it’s just plain wasted potential.
That principle is crucial to the theme of Tomorrowland (subtitled as Disney Tomorrowland: A World Beyond in Europe and the United Kingdom), the latest summer film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, directed by Brad Bird and starring George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy and Hugh Laurie. In the late 1800’s, four of the then-greatest minds, Jules Verne, Thomas Edison, Gustave Eiffel and Nikola Tesla, form a partnership and create what would be known in future decades as Plus Ultra. This is a secret group of inspirational and often profoundly influential and revolutionary thinkers dedicated to gearing their intellect towards making the world a better place. As they believe that the world is not ready for such cooperative thinking, the four conduct their operations in absolute secrecy. Over the decades, they recruit thinkers such as Amelia Earhart, Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell and many others to construct a brighter, radically-happier world, a vision called Tomorrowland. In 1964, an eleven-year-old boy named Frank Walker attends the World’s Fair in New York, drawn by the local inventor’s competition. His invention, a jetpack, is rejected by David Nix (Hugh Laurie). Sullen and dejected, Frank is surprised when a mysterious but charming girl named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) appears to take an interest in him and gives him a curious pin embossed with a “T”. Frank follows Nix and Athena to Tomorrowland, now an incredibly futuristic, technologically-advanced and visually-dazzling metropolis. Years later in the 2010’s, Casey (Britt Robertson) is trying in vain to prevent her father’s job termination, and it is due to her determination and spirit that Athena gives her another Tomorrowland pin that allows her temporary access to the world. Her curiosity eventually leads to her meeting Athena and a now-grown Frank (George Clooney), who must work together to save both worlds.
One major thing about this film is that it is hardly a science-fiction film. I’ve begun to look at that “genre” as a superficial description. Pacific Rim was a science-fiction, mecha/monster film; The Hunger Games is a science-fiction dystopian film series and so on. But when I looked at the story of Tomorrowland, there was an incredible adventure that drove it forward. We have always known about the theory of parallel universes- more recently relabeled as “string theory”, of which one of the most famous advocates is Doctor Michio Kaku. The theory, or at least my interpretation of it persists that there is an infinite number of universes in which an infinite number of possibilities have been realized. Tomorrowland is in another dimension, a perfectly-parallel world in which you can walk into a lake or run into a wall on Earth while exploring it. This is young science fiction, the type that we all got excited about when we were children (or at least I did). I was fascinated with the idea of parallel universes or other worlds beyond this one. Any kind of adventure for me was a real thrill-ride, seeing films like that when I was a child, and as I watched Tomorrowland something woke inside me. It was like how I felt a reinvigorated sense of playfulness as a child after watching Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone two years ago, only this time it was with my sense of futuristic imagination. More on this later.
I’ve always prided myself on having an out-of-reality train of thought, and ever since the Third or Fourth Grade I began writing stories, both in and out of classroom assignments. I based my stories on other ones, just mainly replacing their characters with my own. I then realized I was simply retelling the same story and resolved to change that. When I was twelve, I began writing my first original story, then-titled ‘Friends Upon Titan’. I had many ideas based on dreams, and even drew concept art for them. In the end, I only wrote sixteen pages, but that opened a door into the world of storytelling through which I went happily. In a way, a similar sense of wonder and excitement was captured personally for me as the characters traveled to Tomorrowland and experienced all the breathtaking technologies that were made possible just because of those thinkers who refused to give up on their ideas. This excitement is made all the more wonderful by Claudio Miranda’s fabulous cinematography (he won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Life of Pi) and Brad Bird’s direction. We all know Brad Bird. Tomorrowland is a Disney film, and Brad Bird had a hand in directing The Incredibles and Ratatouille, two other great Disney-Pixar films. He also directed Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. This man does great work, and his direction is adept at making you feel welcome in the world of the future. Like I often say, the best films don’t feel like films at all.
- Assisted by Athena, Casey and Frank search for a way to enter Tomorrowland.
Film-seller point number one. Visual effects. I was drawn by the sparkling images from the posters and trailers of Tomorrowland from the cinema, and the first thing I thought to myself was how cannily Tomorrowland’s cityscape resembled what I wanted for my own fictional universe, Talimara. Anything about the future was bound to draw me, and the intricate silverworks of the city is charming in its appeal, grand in its design and bafflingly creative in its imagination. Hugh Laurie himself stated that when he was first approached for the project he was drawn by how dazzling it was. I can agree with him heartily. The visuals of Tomorrowland serve as a complement to the movie’s purpose, making great contributions to the imagination. It’s difficult to describe the effect, actually. At the very least, Tomorrowland is an astonishing film with all its lofty grandeur and an air of limitless thought. Praise here, too. Yet that was not even the linchpin of my reception of the movie.
The linchpin was the character of Athena. She is a fascinating girl. I can’t say too much without spoiling things, but I think the audience will see for themselves when they meet this character. Brad Bird declared Athena his “secret weapon”. You will notice. She was not featured in any of the trailers and only in very few marketing materials, and yet she plays such a central role in the film that she cannot be ignored in the end. She is an integral part of Tomorrowland. For me, Athena is Tomorrowland. She has many of the qualities the characters mention that are evocative and almost quintessential for the future: optimism, cheer, determination and will. As she introduces herself in the film’s beginning, “I am the future.” If you’re eleven years old and you meet a pretty freckled girl in an otherworldly dress who tells you that she is the future, how would you react? I’d trust her if she handed me a “T” pin. Raffey Cassidy (pronounced “RAFF-FEE”) is a very talented actress, having been named as one of Screen International’s annual Stars of Tomorrow. Heh. “Tomorrow”. I get it. She puts on a fabulous performance, full of energy, steely determination and yet, an air of charm and mystery that so befits a child. She is twelve or thirteen years old, born in 2002, and the amount of physical work she does in this film is eye-widening. Raffey, you can tell, augments the Athena character superbly well. Given the quirky clothes she dons and the ways in which she wears her hair, she looks like a girl from another planet. Athena is kind of like the friend you wish you had in Grade Three, because the amount of optimism she carries is very contagious.
Really quickly, because I’m running out of time. Tomorrowland carries one very important theme. This is more than just the technology-central cityscape and the citizens from the future who live within it. This is more than a pretty girl handing out Tomorrowland pins to recruit thinkers. This is about the thinkers themselves. Those who live by their creativity and who refuse to give up on ideas- what Athena calls “dreamers”. I am a dreamer. I am an imaginer, a thinker and a fantasy-producer. I am not afraid to express my creativity, and that is what this film tells everyone. It inspires motivation in children, and gives good reminders for adults. My decision to award Tomorrowland with a rare five-star review will be met with mixed responses, I am sure, but this film has done something for me that few films do. It inspires. Personally, at least. I will not guarantee similar reactions from anyone. But I am unafraid of anything like that. Are you like me, dear reader? Do you believe in the world of tomorrow? Do you believe in yourself and the power of your imagination? Do you have the determination and will to achieve whatever you want, no matter what anyone of any position tells you? Consider this! The future belongs to those who believe in it the most and who are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it. If you’re one of these people, you may very well have a place in Athena’s world.
At the Movies: Aston's Reviews! 
5 thoughts on “Tomorrowland”