Tomorrowland (2015), PG, ★★1/2

Welcome to Tomorrowland.

What does the future hold for mankind? What does mankind hold for the future? It is uncertain because it is up to ourselves to make the future a positive world of imagination and leadership. If not, then the future will be bleak and outright depressing. It'll be like a post-apocalyptic world after the post-apocalyptic world of The Walking Dead. It is an intriguing premise for an optimistic but troublemaking teenager to solve and uncover the secrets of a new world. But, why is there a new world filled with robots and a Star Trek-type of city? The lead-up to the mystery is worth the journey, however, its journey's end is convoluting that it becomes non-sensical and a distorted conclusion that becomes a bit self-indulgent.

In 1964, a young Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) attended the New York's World Fair. He meets Nix (Hugh Laurie), who is unimpressed with Frank's jet pack. But, he gets Athena's (Raffey Cassidy) attention as she gives a pin adorned with a "T" symbol and tells him to follow her to the "It's a Small World" ride. Frank sneaks onto the ride and his pin is scanned as he goes to Tomorrowland and he lands with his jetpack in front of Nix and Athena.

Years later, a teenage science fanatic named Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) sneaks into a former NASA launch site where her father, Eddie (Tim McGraw) is an employed engineer. She dismantles the machines that is demolishing the launch site but the next time, she is arrested. Her father bails her out and at the police station, she discovers a pin that was with her personal items. For a brief second, she is transported to another world. For another time, she explores Tomorrowland until the timer on her pin expires bringing her back into reality.

Athena and Casey have an episode with some "owners" of a store and Athena takes Casey to the New York home of an older Frank Walker (George Clooney) as Casey impatiently waits for Frank to come out to get in Frank's home and she confronts Frank in support of saving the world. A group of robots disguised as United Secret Service agents are intruding and trespassing his property and attack them as Frank and Casey escape from his house, destroyed. After reuniting with Athena, the trio go to a teleportation machine that transports them to Paris and they enter a rocket underneath the Eiffel Tower as it launches into the sky and into Tomorrowland.

George Clooney as the rugged inventor.

This was one of my anticipated films of the summer and I hate to say, that this is the most disappointing film of 2015...so far. I will commend the filmmakers for establishing the build-up as the film tries to transcend the material into something wholly original. However, to establish something original, you have to be ambitious. I felt like their ambition was over-the-top as they got ahead of themselves to set up only the build-up to the world itself and also to the overall conclusion. It is just an advertisement of a Disney park that has tone inconsistencies with a plot twist that was confusing.

George Clooney plays the vulnerable and rugged inventor real well as we find out his backstory and how he would want to change the world. He wants to go the distance and he also wants to take risks. The scene inside the house where he uses his inventions as tools to escape is mesmerizing and fun. Britt Robertson plays an optimistic character that we, the audience, go along with to take on the journey and she's no less than interesting. She and Clooney has good chemistry. Hugh Laurie dials it in a little too much but establishes some sense into the plot. However, the big surprise is Raffey Cassidy as Athena as she is a mysterious figure that plays a mentor and guide to Robertson's character. Plus, she provides depth near the end which is satisfying but unworthy due to the tone change in its last half-hour.

For two-thirds of the film, it is a visually exciting and solid sci-fi adventure film that I've been waiting for with the mystery still ambiguous. But, when the outcome is revealed, the movie shifts to auto-pilot with action and sense of unearned joy that makes the plot more scattered and the movie, overall, is unsatisfying. Brad Bird is a fantastic director with an eye of visual storytelling, depth and emotion. His examples are The Incredibles, Ratatouille, The Iron Giant and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Even though this film has bursts of excitement visually and emotionally, the movie, overall, does not seem to get the story together to entrance the audience with splendor and great word-of-mouth. It's befuddled confusion and disappointment and that is how I felt.

**1/2