Frank Walker, previous young mastermind and Casey Newton, a positive, enthusiastic teen is overflowing with scientific inquisitiveness. They get on board on an operation to discover the enigmas of a place of different time and space which they both remember as being called the 'Tomorrowland.'
An aggressively optimistic script admonishes the lazy and irresolute and urges humanity to end war and save the environment; the proselytizing burdens an already onerous plot.
Director Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and co-screenwriter Damon Lindelof (that guy, co-creator of Lost, knows from disappointing people) never quite match the hope they clearly want to inspire.
Until its final act, Tomorrowland plays as a lighthearted techno-conspiracy thriller, Men in Black by way of Nancy Drew with the occasional whiff of Philip K. Dick paranoia and Pixarian high concept.
The point of Tomorrowland is to encourage youngsters to think out of the box, stay positive and never give up. It's a sweet and inspirational message buried in a mire of cryptic plotting.
'Tomorrowland's' an 'addiction of geography' utopia movie, allowing us fantasies of exploiting resources on other planets since we've already hoovered up everything down here.
Is a future where all the world's awesome people get to live somewhere else, while us plebes have to stay on Earth doing our mediocre best really a future to aspire to?