Walt Disney Pictures has been attempting to adapt Disney theme park attractions into feature film franchises for over two decades, but most of those efforts haven’t been successful.
Aside from the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, two separate attempts to adapt The Haunted Mansion failed, and don’t get us started on The Country Bears. Even Tomorrowland, a big-budget live-action film from the director of The Incredibles, Brad Bird, screenwriter Jeff Jensen and Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof, failed to ignite at the box office fully.
For years, Tomorrowland wasn’t even available to stream on Disney+, and it felt like Disney was burying the film.
However, Tomorrowland has since been released from movie jail and it’s currently available to stream on both Hulu and Disney+. In honor of the film’s recent tenth anniversary, Tomorrowland is our pick for the one Hulu movie that you need to watch in June.
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‘Tomorrowland’ Is a Throwback Disney Movie
It’s hard to say whether this was an intentional choice by Bird and his collaborators, but Tomorrowland plays like an updated version of the live-action movies Disney used to make in the ’70s and ’80s, like Escape to Witch Mountain and Flight of the Navigator. The story walks a fine line by placing a child or a teenager on a quest that puts them in danger without veering out of PG territory.
Britt Robertson plays Casey Newton, a young woman who gets a glimpse of Tomorrowland — a breathtaking futuristic city in an alternate dimension — before discovering that she has to go back there to save the world from doomsday. In order to do so, Casey needs to find Frank Walker (George Clooney), an inventor turned recluse who was exiled from Tomorrowland decades earlier.
Robertson and Clooney Have Great Chemistry Together
While the film takes its time to get Casey and Frank together, the story finally comes to life when that happens. Frank is kind of a cautionary tale for Casey. He was once young and optimistic about the future, too, but he lost his spark when he was disillusioned by Tomorrowland’s leaders and by Athena (Raffey Cassidy), the android girl who recruited him when he was a child.
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Cassidy’s Athena also has a large role in the film, and she’s very enjoyable as the child-like robot. But it’s Robertson and Clooney who really carry the movie together. Casey brings out some of Frank’s long-repressed optimism and reawakens the man he could have become. The actors are also very entertaining when they play off each other. If anything, the movie could have used more scenes of Robertson and Clooney together.
‘Tomorrowland’ Has a Very Timely Message
Audiences didn’t outright reject Tomorrowland in 2015. A worldwide gross of $209 million would have been impressive if the film hadn’t cost $180–190 million to make and another $100 million to market. Losing an estimated $120-150 million got this film labeled a flop, but it’s by no means a failure. Tomorrowland has its issues — particularly with its pacing and occasionally over-written exposition scenes — but it succeeds at getting its point across.
The Governor of Tomorrowland, David Nix (Hugh Laurie), never accepts the truth that Casey and Frank present to him. Casey repeatedly proves that humanity doesn’t have to hopelessly march to its own demise. That’s ultimately the message of the film. Ordinary people don’t have to lose themselves to feelings of helplessness and despair. They can positively affect the fate of our world one day at a time.
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Feeling optimistic about the planet’s future is a challenge given current events, but there is real value in embracing optimism while striving to create meaningful change. The final moments of Tomorrowland are all about the spirit of creating a better future together. That’s an inspiring dream we could really use in 2025.
Tomorrowland is streaming on Hulu.
