Tomorrowland

Finally saw Tomorrowland.

I have always loved Disneyland.  If you had asked me as a child what my favorite land at Disneyland was, I would probably have countered, “Can I maybe tell you my least favorite instead?”  If you had said no and pressed me, eventually — eventually — I think I would have said Tomorrowland.

I had mixed feelings going in to this movie.  Brad Bird’s work is legendary (The Simpsons and then going on to direct Iron Giant, The Incredibles, and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.)  My feelings about co-screenwriter Damon Lindelhof, however, are well known.  (Lost, Prometheus, basically he’s the antithesis of my hero Rod Serling.)

The film is definitely a mixed bag.  Some of it achieves moments of Spielbergian wonder.  Lots of it — even accounting for the butchering of Chinese censors — is just sloppy plotting.  But the core message of hope over despair & resignation is profound.

And I must confess that the final shot had me welling up with tears.