Tomorrowland brings us to Yesterdayville.
Writers Damon Lindelof and Brad Bird and director Bird select the Worlds Fair, Flushing, N.Y., 1964, to focus the attention on young inventor Frank Walker and his kindred guide Athena.
I was there! The thought stirred me in the surprisingly well-attended first matinee Friday in a Regal Cinemas theater in Syracuse’s mega shopping, dining and entertainment complex Destiny USA. The exhibits, the big globe, It’s a Small World ride, memories of Disney magic and what it was like to be a born-in-1957 kid with the wonders of a wide world in front of me.
Sort of like little Frank and Athena, played with wide-eyed zeal by Thomas Robinson and sloe-eyed maturity by Raffey Cassidy, rebelling against the killjoy old guy portrayed by the taciturn Hugh Laurie.
As Frank followed Athena’s instructions and surreptitiously follows a tour group to places unfathomable, I so dearly wanted to love this movie.
For the most part, yes, I did.
Jet packs propelling Frank gave way to otherworldly effects spectacular and breath-taking. Robots looked like really sophisticated machinery, and robots looked like people.
And some people wanted to get to the future so bad, and some people were sent back to the present and banned from ever going back.
There was good against evil, and it was easy to choose sides.
George Clooney as the grown up Frank and Britt Robertson as the inquisitive teen Casey Newton carried their parts in the magic quite well, too, with a natural chemistry filled with appropriate bumps, bruises and healing. Newton’s character left a NASA engineer dad played dryly by Tim McGraw in the dust, and the curmudeonly Frank warms to the teen and the task.
But somewhere along the way in these 130 minutes of fantasy, the story goes bitterly sour.
Maybe it’s because they blurred the lines between good and evil.
And maybe it’s because what’s coming out of the mouths of these people and robots is too distressingly close to home as they make points and counterpoints about fictional dystopias and real calamities.
Ugh. Too bad. The recovery is quite nice but still …
It was far less glorious than it could have been and what I thought it should have been after the initial set-up and big-time flourishes. Very good, yes. Greatness is still floating out there somewhere.
Would you like to travel to the future to see what fate awaits mankind? Do you have memories of a World’s Fair or Exposition to share? Is it a small world or big world, after all?
I think we talked back and forth about my postcards and the World’s Fair in 1964. Strange they chose this but there was Tomorrowland there, too. I like the cast and will hope to see this when it comes out on DVD or borrow it from the library. Felicia and I hope to see the remake of “Far from the Madding Crowd,” Mark. I think it looks historical, romantic and memorable. I loved the first version with the actress from “Dr. Zhivago,” Mark. Julie Christy is still beautiful and plays a person with dementia, in a great movie, “Away from Her.” It was made before “Still Alice.” Oh, brother Randy, Felicia, Mom and I watched, “The Judge.” We all cried. Even Randy or especially Randy…
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I liked “The Judge” in the theater last year, Robin. It was powerful. Bless you all for crying, especially Randy.
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this sounds disappointing and i most likely won’t end up seeing it. i really don’t have any desire to look into the future, and choose to remain hopeful about it. i’ve never seen a world’s fair or exposition, though i woul have loved to )
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I was so lucky by geography for the 64 World’s Fair, Beth.
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Tomorrowland is my new all-time favorite movie. Everything in that movie I liked. It is a must see again.
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Wow, Tony. That made quite an impression on you to become your all-time favorite. Enjoy it the second time around.
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Hi Mark! Catching up on blog posts after an eventful holiday.
We saw the film Friday afternoon, and I really enjoyed it. I thought all of the actors did very well – and I was happily surprised to see my House favorite, Hugh Laurie, in the film. Like you, my husband attended that World’s Fair.
There were a few questions left at the end of the film for me, but all in all, I found it great fun.
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I liked far more than I didn’t like, Kate. That’s a big victory. 🙂
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I went to the World’s Fair but I was only 4 years old. I hardly remember anything. Going into the future. Ha! I’m already here. 🙂
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Yeah, looking at it that way, we are here, aren’t we, Kim? 🙂
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Sadly yes.
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I love to read Dystopian literature, but I rarely enjoy the films. Odd, huh?
I feel like Dystopian stuff is easy to believe, which is why I prefer to think we should reach a similarity to utopia first…
I don’t know that I will watch Tomorrowland.
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I’m really rooting for utopia, Joey.
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Great post, Mark! I wasn’t at the fair, I was still in Kansas 😀
My 10yo son saw Tomorrowland with some friends and as I type I’m asking for his review. Here it goes, “It was OK, a little weird, and I was a little puzzled. I walked out of the movie a little confused. I was more action and less…future. The whole thing was just future. There were only a few parts that were real, now. So, It was a good movie but I probably wouldn’t see it again. It wasn’t my type of movie.”
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Great review from a 10-year-old, Angie McFly. It was not aimed at his age group, obviously. Missed opportunity?
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I may see this one Mark, and will keep this thought in mind. Could be. On a personal note, this kid loves history. The future? Not on his radar 😉
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Now that’s an interesting perspective for a 10-year-old, my friend.
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He is one interesting kid, Mark! Thanks for noticing 😀
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I definitely want to see this flick!
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Time travelling, sort of. Your thing, Austin.
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And yet I’m reading article that it is a box office disappointment…
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There’s no accounting for that sort of stuff, Austin, as we know.
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And OMG. Your picture is so cute! *Hugs hugs hugs*
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Ha, you flatter me for a scowling selfie, LR. 🙂
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It’s cute. *adamant*
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I should have gone with you DL!
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Told you it was up your alley, LR.
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I know! I should come to Syracuse asap.
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You should. It’s a long walk, though. 😉
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Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
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Can you swim? 😉
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No. I hate you right now DL. *goes complaining to Mrs. B.*
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OK, take a plane. 😉
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Hahahha. *thanks Mrs. B*
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I was there too, Mark. The Pieta WAS the highlight for me, but I loved the big dinosaurs, and the home-of-tomorrow predictions.
As for the film…yup. I think this is spoiler-safe: Was particularly bothered by how WHITE the film was (I understand why the first T-land was, but…), and the same tired sexism of the dreamers shown–do you get what I mean? Very poor STEM representation, for instance. Boys get to do, girls get to be artists and ballerinas. (Not that there’s anything wrong with those!) Hghly illogical, given the context in which these dreamers were being shown.
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I totally get what you’re saying about their non-diverse future vision, Babe. That was one of the problems. Yup.
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I was there as well, 1964. Catholic school field trip. The Vatican pavilion’s Pieta was, of course, the highlight we were directed to, but I have so many other memories. I still have my trading cards from the event. Love it when things like the Unisphere show up in a movie. I was also surprised to see the GE rotating audience show up in Disneyworld years later. It’s a small world after all, Mark ☺
p.s. Re the movie…you had me at Hugh Laurie. ❤ Huge fan crush.
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Yes, the rotating audience was co-opted quite well, Van. I have to chuckle at your school trip directing you to that exhibit. Of course it did. I’m glad I was a once-a-week catechism goer instead. About the movie, Hugh’s part is smaller. I fear it would not feed your crush.
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Still…to be even that close to Michelangelo was awesome, even to a group of elementary school kids. It was made more special by the distance they kept us away from it, and on a moving walkway.
Too bad about Hugh’s part. I’d rather see him than Clooney anyday. Different strokes…☺
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Yeah, everybody has a favorite, Van. 🙂
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Van, how interesting that we were just talking about your attendance to this World’s Fair and the Pieta! It is a small world…you saw that coming 😉
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I really didn’t. I noticed the previews for Tomorrowland, but never connected it to the World’s Fair until Mark’s post. Now, Angie, I want to go see it ! ☺
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Love the rabbit trail…the connections!
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Curious and curiouser.
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I should be ashamed of myself, but I still have issues with Hugh Laurie with an American accent. He’s an actor. This is what he does. But I first saw him on A Bit of Fry and Laurie on the Beeb many moons ago and fell in love with all the comedic work that he did. As much as I am happy for all his success over here, it just feels odd to watch him pretend to be one of us American types.
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I, too, get jarred by other-accents, Karen. So I’m with You on Hugh.
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I’ll stay on home ground thanks. The world is a big place but technology has made it smaller.
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Yes, Marissa. The kind of future technology here is boggling. I want to stay here, too.
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Your review makes me curious. I’ve never been to a world’s fair. And no, I have no desire to see the far away future. I have every desire to see the next forty years future. With me in it. 🙂
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Yes, 40 years out would be nice for you, MBC. A little far out for me. That World’s Fair was the cat’s meow for me, that’s for sure. 🙂
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I saw the trailers Mark and it looked good. Thanks for the review.
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Thanks for your reviews of the review, Paul. It was an eye-opener. The movie. 🙂
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I visited that World’s Fair too, Mark, with my parents and my best friend Barbara. Maybe we sat or walked near each other unaware, back in that Yesterdayland. Based on your and others’ reactions to “Tomorrowland,” I’m not sure if or when I’ll be visiting that movie. Oh, I think it’s a small and a big world. As always, thanks for asking.
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We may have Disneyed past each other as little kids in Flushing, much like the actors in this movie, Ann. See you in the future, too, I hope!
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I just found some photos from that trip, Mark. I don’t see you in them, but I don’t know if you would have recognized me, either.
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Ah,, but Ann, I have seen photos of you at that age on your blog, I do believe. 🙂
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