STACK Jun #128

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028 JUNE 2015 JB Hi-Fi
visit REVIEWS CINEMA
When you’re the director
of one of Pixar’s greatest
achievements in The
Incredibles, not to mention the
most successful of the Mission:
Impossible series thus far, Ghost
Protocol, the pressure to deliver
another box office smash is well
and truly on.
With this, his second live-action
feature, writer-director Brad
Bird pulls out all the old-school
‘kid’s own adventure’ stops and
thankfully delivers an action romp
with far more bravado than a mere
feel-good family sci-fi.
George Clooney plays Frank
Walker, a former child-genius with
a heart full of dreams whom we
witness in the intro of the film
being lured by a mysterious young
girl into a Twilight Zone-style
alternate future through the ‘It’s a
Small World After All’ ride at the
1964 World Fair (well, this is a
Disney film!).
This utopian paradise is eons
ahead of our current reality, and
young Frank, complete with his
very own self-designed jetpack,
eventually fits right in.
Flash forward to present-
day and teen rebel Casey (Britt
Robertson), hellbent on sabotaging
the demolition of her father’s
place of work (an abandoned
NASA launch station), is soon in
possession of pin similar to the
one Frank acquired 50 years ago.
A chain of events leads Casey
to realise this acquisition has not
only put her life in danger, but
when introduced to Frank today,
his conspiratorial paranoia (that
has seen him reclusive and holed
up in a techno fortress) is well-
founded and the danger is very,
very real.
Packed with in-jokes, action
aplenty (at times extremely violent
for a kids flick) and a wicked
sense of humour that dances
between Back to the Future
escapism and Goonies meets Da
Vinci Code outlandish disbelief,
Tomorrowland is a perfectly
formed adventure romp for ages
10 and above.
Smart, fun and full of naive
wonder, this plays to the smarter
end of town at that delicate age
between packing up the Lego and
moving into role-playing games.
Chris Murray
A teenage girl with a social conscience is delivered a mysterious commemorative pin from the ‘64 World Fair
which unlocks an alternate dimension from the future. Now all she has to do is save the world!
TOMORROWLAND RELEASED: Now Showing
DIRECTOR: Brad Bird
CAST: George Clooney, Britt Robertson,
Hugh Laurie
RATING: PG