STACK #128 Jun 2016

CINEMA

REVIEWS

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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

W hen 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

JUNE 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

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