Tomorrowland: Frank and Athena

Extra: Thoughts About the Movie

The Missed Potential of the Tomorrowland Movie

An analysis and my vision of the world

Note: This essay has movie spoilers and minor spoilers of my Frank and Athena book.

Introduction

First, let me say that much of Tomorrowland I loved. After all, I wrote an entire novel about the world and the characters! I've put so much thought into this movie, probably a lot more than it deserves. But there really is gold hiding in the film.

My analysis and suggestions of where it could have been better are made from a position of love and respect. Parts of it were so good... but there was a huge amount of unrealized potential under the surface, which I believe ultimately led to its box office failure.

This essay breaks down and gives some alternatives to plot points which I think would have brought forth the movie it was meant to be. In a real sense, it's my working model of the world that I used to write my story. Although I'm critical of certain aspects of the movie, it's also meant to pay tribute to the brilliant movie struggling to get out that regrettably most people couldn't see.

The Brilliance of Harry Potter

I think it's enlightening to begin with looking at Harry Potter, and why it was such a great book and movie. Many things about it were great, of course, but I think one of the best things was the world building. The magical world had so many little details that made it seem like a real place, and people loved the idea that there was this place parallel to the boring, real world that held all these wonders.

Structurally to the plot, one brilliant thing J.K. Rowling (and the movie) did was that she didn't waste any time getting us there. She established Harry's character for a little bit, but once Hagrid showed up, it was all magic, all the time. And it was exciting, because that's where we wanted to be. We don't want to hang around in the muggle world, we signed up for a magic world, and that's what we got, loaded with sheer imagination.

I think that's a fundamental mistake Tomorrowland made. The very title makes us a promise – a land of tomorrow! The posters showed a world of technological wonders, a sparkling utopian world where anything is possible. Well, sign me up for that! And that's how it starts (once we get past Casey and Frank in the lead-in). Frank with his jetpack (jetpacks!), meeting up with a mysterious girl who gives him a mysterious pin that eventually leads him to an amazing, unbelievable place with teleportation, robots that fix things, flying cars, gleaming spires! Wow! And then...

Boom. Back to the real world "when everything went to hell." Well, all right, surely we'll be back there soon. Yes! Casey gets a pin, and now that's what I'm talking about! We're heading back to Tomorrowland! But no... the movie then turns into a very long journey through the boring real world. I don't want the boring real world... when do we get to Tomorrowland? You've shown it to me twice! When does the movie start? I don't want a mystery of how to get there.

The movie felt like one long tease, and then when we finally get there... no Tomorrowland of our dreams, just a depressing husk of its former self, left in ruins. Ultimately, the fundamental problem is that the movie cheated us out of Tomorrowland.

The Tomorrowland World

What Tomorrowland did right was the world building. The backstory and background are brilliant. Someone obviously put a ton of time and thought into creating this whole background, which really had the potential to be on par with the Harry Potter universe. I honestly don't think they realized what they had – A magic world based on technology. It was like Harry Potter, but filled with things that could possibly happen. And in some ways, better than Harry Potter. The HP universe tolerated the muggle world, but the Tomorrowland universe wanted to improve the world. It was place for optimists and dreams, people who could clean things up, who could battle against forces of pessimism and selfishness. And anyone was welcome. You didn't have to be born magical, you just had to dream of a better world and you were welcomed with opened arms.