Friend Movie Review: Tomorrowland

Last week Donna and I saw Tomorrowland. We both had low expectations based the critics' reviews. I didn't know much, only that it had been panned. However, I often enjoy panned summer movies so I knew it could go either way. Keep reading to find out how it actually went,

We will be talking about events in the movie so there are SPOILERS ahead. Read on at your own risk. If you want to be surprised stop now. You have been warned.

The Good:
Donna -I always enjoy George Clooney. Truth is every time I see him I renew my crush on him. He is always HOT and I will always enjoy watching anything he is in. The Tomorrowland we see at the beginning of the movie is so fun and full of hope and so many things I wanted to explore and take a closer look at. It is everything I hope the future will be.
Me -Athena, the childlike animatronic recruiter made this movie for me. I thought Raffey Cassidy was wonderful and deserves the MVP for best actress. I enjoyed all her lines and how she delivered them especially the conversation with George Clooney that went:
Athena: I've figured out why you couldn't make me laugh.
Frank Walker: Why's that?
Athena: You're not funny.
My secondary likes were the first looks at Tomorrowland, for the same reasons at Donna. The kid that played the younger brother, Pierce Gagnon. I liked that the main girl, Casey Newton, asked in class how we could fix the dire state of the world. I also liked when she told Clooney that we shape our destiny and the screens flicker. Oh, and the Casey's first encounter with animatronic's in the geeky store...I also really liked the store, it was so sad to see it blown-up.

Less Than Good:
Donna -The weird quasi "romantic" scene with George Clooney and the age-less yet childlike animatronic was creepy. IF it was differently cast, or the friendship was highlighted more than the quasoi-romance it could have been better but what was was just -eww. The other issue, was the mechanics of the advertisement pin made me anxious. I kept worrying that there would be a serious injury while she was exploring Tomorrowland. The anxiety was even worse in the closing scene.
Me -I also found the choices around time/aging and the Clooney-Athena friendship-romance creepy. I focused on it more as a friendship but it only made it slightly less creepy. My other issues with the movie were plotting choices. They gave you this interesting world but there were so many different ways the conflict could have gone. I found similar issues watching Lost (same writers), the world they give us is fun but how the problems are resolved is so unsatisfying. I wanted a different problem. I also wanted Nix (Hugh Laurie) to have a change of heart and see the error of his ways not just killed off. There are other minor nit picky things that bothered me like it was heavy handed, when Clooney is recounting the events from the future there are discrepancies, and last if Tomorrowland takes all our dreamers doesn't that leave our world worst off?

Favourite Future Technology:
Donna -The Eiffel Tower Rocket
Me -Personal Jet Packs with safety harness that inflate in emergencies and crashes

Final Rating:
Donna -3.7 Eiffel Tower rockets out of 5
Me -3.3 animatronic recruiters out of 5

Final Thoughts:
There were enough good elements that we would both see it again. Donna would even consider buying it, if it was on sale.  I would recommend it more as wait to renter than see it in the theater. For all our complaints it was still a fun, good summer movie.

Up Coming:
1) Next Sunday (June 14th) there are plans for see Jurassic World with a large crew. There will be a review posted no later than Tuesday.

2) After watching the Neflix Daredevil, I've been wanting to watch older (cheesy and bad) superhero movies. Sometime in the near future these marathons will begin, starting with Ben Affleck's Daredevil and Elektra. There will be reviews written.

3) I am thinking about making a master movie review post. It will make finding reviews faster and help me compare ratings. I am also thinking that I need to go back and adjust a few of the ratings of earlier movie reviews. I was more generous when I first started rating.

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