Movies / Home Theatre

Tomorrowland Blu-Ray Review

By Hervé St-Louis
October 20, 2015 - 14:30

Boy genius Frank Walker’s invention of the jetpack in the 2960s got him an invitation to Tomorrowland, the world where creative folks usher a new world free of the rules of the old world. But one of Frank’s invention got him expelled from Tomorrowland by its current leader. It’s up to creative muse Athena to recruit another genius decades later that will save planet Earth from the impending doom predicted by Frank’s future prediction machine. But will young Casey Newton’s mind and energy be enough to save the world?

Tomorrowland is an analogy for Disney’s worldview as a permanent form of world fair for the information economy. Tomorrow Land is what Walt Disney World and Disney Land represent today with the digitalization of its venues and an entrée into what will be. In the movie, the extra-dimensional venue is the perfect city in the world where escapists, innovators and smart creative minds escape to create a world free of the old rules.

Brad Bird’s movie expertly skirts around the surveillance aspects of Tomorrowland that can be seen in today’s Disney’s themed parks to focus on the sense of wonderment. Yet, one of the big plot holes of the movie is about the androids chasing creative geniuses and Athena on planet Earth. They are echoes of 1984 in Governor Nix, the villain of the movie. Their connection to Tomorrowland is downplayed. Disney’s themed-parks have as much surveillance, albeit from human goons and permanent rubber bands.

These rubber bands, just like the Tomorrowland pins promise its holder access to more wonderment that is hidden and undisclosed to the poor souls who are too unfortunate or refuse to tag along for this 1984 pastiche enacted today at Disneyworld and Disneyland. The difference is that in Tomorrowland, a merit-based elite has access to the pins. At Disney, consumers who agree to have their lives monitored 24/7 by Disney wear the Mickey Mouse bracelets.

For these reasons, I find Tomorrowland a subversive movie that preaches Disney’s information ascendency instead of opposing this form of corporate surveillance, envied by governments of the world. If Tomorrowland is the laboratory for what humanity can achieve when creativity is allowed to be free, Disney’s real Tomorrowland is nothing but the suppression of human freedom for the privilege of skipping the line to get into a magical ride or get credits for a free ice cream cone.

I’m disappointed that Brad Bird, a smart critical man, never added a second subversive layer to Tomorrowland criticizing the surveillance and corporatism of Disney. Instead, his film is a pilgrimage to old Disney properties that need a reboot in order to exist next to the likes of the Marvel Comic and Star Wars universes. Tomorrowland is a 130-minute commercial for Disney and although inspiring, because of a lack of critical perspective on a world where so-called elites appoint themselves as judge, jury and executioner over the rest of humanity, fails as a movie.

I just want to add that instead of Thomas Edison, Disney should have picked the Real McCoy, the black Canadian inventor better known as Elijah McCoy and Marie Curry. Not doing so repeats the Marvel mantra of having a bunch of old dead white guys as the ones humanity is beholden to. Surely, humanity’s creativity is not limited to the genius of white men.

Extras
Digital HD/SD*, Blu-ray Combo Pack & Disney Movies Anywhere (DMA)
·       Remembering the Future: A Personal Journey Through Tomorrowland with Brad Bird
Discover everything there is to know about the making of Tomorrowland through Director Brad Bird's perspective.
·       Casting Tomorrowland
Join Brad Bird, Damon Lindelof, George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson, and Raffey Cassidy as they discuss the making of Tomorrowland.
·       A Great Big Beautiful Scoring Session
Famed composer Michael Giacchino invites Disney legend, Richard Sherman to join him in an informal visit to the Tomorrowland scoring stage, told through the personal lens of Michael’s brother, documentarian Anthony Giacchino.
·       The World of Tomorrow Science Hour - Hosted By Futurologist David Nix (Blu-ray and DMA Exclusive)
Believe it or not but Nix used to host a children’s television program about science. Now watch the recently discover outtakes from the show.
·       Animated Short: The Origins of Plus Ultra
An animated story of how Tomorrowland came to be.
·       Brad Bird Production Diaries
Diary Entry #1 – “The First Day” (Blu-ray and DMA Exclusive)
Diary Entry #2 – “Tomorrowland vs. the Weather” (DMA Exclusive)
Diary Entry #3 – “NASA”
·       Blast from the Past Commercial
Go back in time and watch this original commercial for the Blast from the Past store.
·       Deleted Scenes with Filmmaker Intro
Deleted Scene 1 - Joking on the Eiffel Tower
Deleted Scene 2 - Young Casey vs. The Volcano
Deleted Scene 3 - Doomsday Living Room
Deleted Scene 4 - As Originally Written Casey The Downer
Deleted Scene 5 - What Happened to Tomorrowland
Deleted Scene 6 - What is Tomorrowland
Deleted Scene 7 - Great Big Beautiful World World’s Fair (DMA Exclusive)
Deleted Scene 8 - Frank Walker age 10 (DMA Exclusive)
·       4 Easter Eggs
*Digital bonus offerings may vary by retailer                

DVD:
·       Brad Bird Production Diaries
Diary Entry #3 – “NASA”
·       Blast from the Past Commercial
Go back in time and watch this original commercial for the Blast from the Past store.

Rating: 8 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12