Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Review of "Tomorrowland"

This movie has been getting mixed reviews, and a lot of pundits are already declaring that it is a failure almost on the scale of "John Carter". I beg to differ.

It is not without faults. In fact, the ending was a big letdown. I'd say the final 30 minutes of the movie felt rather contrived and tired. However, the first 2/3 of the movie was spectacular! It was visually stunning, and the storyline felt like it was heading somewhere uncharted. I like watching a movie that kept me unbalanced and not able to guess at the next move. Tomorrowland did that for me, at least, the first 2/3 of it.

I'm not going to reveal the storyline, because doing so will be a disservice if you haven't seen it. But I will say that the 3 leading characters in the movie were quite engaging, even the "robot". Where the movie lost it for me, and where I started to be able to guess what will happen next was when they were all back in Tomorrowland and the battle to stop the impending doom. This was where the direction and the "message" of the movie was delivered to heavy-handed. In fact, for the movie that started off so mysteriously and so complex, the ending and the reason for all the destruction was too simple and not at all convincing. It ruined what was until then, a fun, visually-amazing movie.

I will still recommend this movie even with the flaw. I think people will enjoy it more than they expect. If you are a Disney park fan, you'll recognize familiar landmarks in the movie.

BTW, it turns out that "Tomorrowland" is the first movie ever to be shown, in certain theaters, in the new Dolby Vision. It was shown that way at the El Capitan theater. The next movie that can also be seen in Dolby Vision? Disney/Pixar's "Inside/Out".

Zz.

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