Tomorrowland review: Are you ready for jetpack George Clooney?

Director: Brad Bird; Screenwriter: Damon Lindelof; Starring: George Clooney, Britt Robertson Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy, Tim McGraw; Running time: 130 mins; Certificate: 12A

Taking its name and inspiration from the futuristic themed area at Disneyland, Brad Bird's latest blockbuster mines similar territory to his earlier films The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, a pair of dazzling animations that expertly blended heart, spectacle and nostalgia.

Tomorrowland isn't quite up to the level of those aforementioned offerings, but as Hollywood's biggest movies become ever more reliant on being "dark and gritty", brownie points should go to Bird for countering all that by coming up with something that's buoyantly optimistic. It all feels suitably on-brand for Disney, who'll be hoping Tomorrowland hits big at the box office to open the door for further theme park-to-film adaptations (Ryan Gosling and Guillermo del Toro's Haunted Mansion is incoming).

This film's story, a veritable mystery box from Lost's Damon Lindelof, begins with young inventor Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) attending the historic 1964 New York World's Fair. Wowed by the staggering display of cutting-edge technology, Frank finds himself pulled into the futuristic world of Tomorrowland, a place that's a natural extension of the minds of Verne, Tesla and Edison. Here is a venue where human ambition is encouraged to thrive and anything seems possible. Bird and Lindelof seem to be grasping fondly for an era the world has long since lost - this is sci-fi with a nod to the genre's past, and a subtle commentary on the bleak, post-apocalyptic landscape it has become on film and television.

Tomorrowland's breezy and upbeat swing at something original is a refreshing contrast to the onslaught of comic book movies and sequels invading multiplexes. Bird's film skews towards a younger audience, being the kind of high-spirited adventure that'll appeal to fans of new-era Doctor Who.

After the '60s-set intro the film skips forward to the present to pick up the story with Casey Newton (Britt Robertson), an inquisitive-minded teen who lives near an old NASA base with her engineer father (Tim McGraw) and younger brother Nate (Pierce Gagnon). The discovery of a mysterious pin gives Casey a fleeting glimpse of Tomorrowland and leads her to the doorstep of Frank, who's now grown up into a curmudgeonly George Clooney. The pair team up with Tomorrowland exile Athena (Raffey Cassidy) and soon discover that the fate of the planet is resting in their hands.

Robertson and Cassidy are lively and engaging leads, but strangely it's Clooney's character who proves to be one of the more problematic elements. His Frank goes from cynical, burned out inventor to heroic world-saver with little shade in between - think Clooney the grouch to jetpack George at the flick of a switch. It's somewhat jarring to see him playing a character who, initially, is so at odds with his usual wise-cracking screen persona. A decade ago this part would've fit Harrison Ford like a glove.

In general, though, Tomorrowland's breezy and upbeat swing at something original is a refreshing contrast to the onslaught of comic book movies and sequels invading multiplexes. Bird's film skews towards a younger audience, being the kind of high-spirited adventure that'll appeal to fans of new-era Doctor Who.

One sequence involving the Eiffel Tower brilliantly fires up the imagination, while Tomorrowland itself is brought to life in vivid detail. Monorails weave through giant towers, robots and civilians work together in unison and sleek vehicles cut through the sky. Bird and his design team have clearly gone to town, from the Disney vision of utopia to the Star Wars, Iron Giant and Incredibles Easter eggs housed in retro store Blast from the Past.

Ultimately, this is a film of great individual moments that doesn't quite add up to a winning whole. Lindelof seems plagued by Lost demons yet again, his script leaning heavily on mystery, slowly and frustratingly, drip-feeding answers before rushing to tie things up neatly in a finale that lacks a satisfying pay-off (and fails to deliver on the promise of evil Hugh Laurie). All that said there's enough flair and invention on show to keep you entertained for the duration.

Simon Reynolds

Movies Editor 

Simon has worked as a journalist for more than a decade, writing on staff and freelance for Hearst, Dennis, Future and Autovia titles before joining Cision in 2022.