Yeah, I liked this too for all of its messiness, and will probably be an apologist for it for as long as people are talking about it. I wrote up some general thoughts here and more spoiler-y thoughts here.

TOMORROWLAND

Tomorrowland is an interesting film with a positive message at it's core. To dream and have imagination then anything is possible. Destiny can be changed with the right frame of mind and that is true. You may be on a specific course a dreadful one but you have the power to change it if you desire. That's what I like about this film. It's optimism and positivity about change. The film has wonderful visuals and excellent action sequences. The fight between the robots and Clooney's home is a delight. I thought the Brittany Robertson as Casey was perfect in her role. She brought a sense of realism along with that optimistic can do attitude the film required. In fact most of the cast performed their roles very well. Raffey Cassidy is wonderful as Athena. She really shows how good a child actor can perform when given the right role and direction. I also thought the young version of Clooney was good as well. Hugh Laurie's role as David Nix was the least developed among the main characters. I think anyone could have filled that role. Perhaps if it was someone more menacing it would have brought something more to the role. I liked the story overall and the plot moved briskly. I was never bored during the film. It does lack a real villain to this film. The reasoning as to why the world was heading down the path while acceptable was just a bit convenient as a plot device. Overall, I was pleased with the film even with the lack of a flashy villain to root against.

Grade - B

I enjoyed the hell out of it, thoguh it is kinda very flawd. And slightly pedo Clooney was weird...

I didn't find it pedo at all and I don't know why anyone would think of it that way. It's natural for him to have fallen for Athena as a child since he met her as a child. I'm sure it really caused some relationship development issues as he grew older and she remained a 12 year old.

Because he still longingly stares at her when he is 50.

It's only because Magnus can relate very well.

I'm pretty sure that's only when she is about to die so who isn't going to stare like that.

What did the judge have to say to that?

I watched maybe 75 percent of this today. A fire alarm sounded around the point at which Hugh Laurie's character is reintroduced, and they gave everyone passes. I will see it again tomorrow or Monday.

Wow, judges are cheap where you're from.

I didn't really find the relationship creepy tbh. I thought the scene near the end where Athena showed her POV was one of the best parts of the movie.

Overall I didn't really think the movie worked sadly.

I thought this was fairly average, unfortunately. It's visually stunning and poses some interesting questions about humanity's perspective on our own future, but most of its ideas feel kind of half baked and not that well formed. George Clooney doesn't really have to do much in the way of acting here, but he's so naturally charismatic that it doesn't matter. Rising star Britt Robertson is appropriately plucky and spirited, though her character is surprisingly one-dimensional. The movie also commits the criminal sin of wasting Hugh Laurie in a villainous turn. It's a frustrating movie because it seems like Brad Bird, Damon Lindelof and co. could've crafted something great and iconic, but it just doesn't have the gas to reach that point. C+

As a gigantic fan of the section of the park, Bird, and most Disney blockbusters, all I can say is that this was a crushing disappointment.

It's inventive visually, but where's the fucking fun? I just sat there stone-faced trying not to fall asleep (I apparently snored twice). And it starts off so wonderfully too which makes it even worse.

Ugh.

I enjoyed it enough but it really went in one ear and right out the other. It had some interesting ideas but it never really went anywhere. Still, the visuals were great and the performances were quite good. If it had about 20 minutes shaved off, I think it would have been even better.

B

Tomorrowland is solid enough overall, but its ending is significantly weaker than what comes before. For most of the running time, it's a light, loose, and enjoyable adventure that does a good job of unveiling the secrets of its universe bits-and-pieces at a time while also zipping through several well-choreographed action set pieces; if nothing else, it's further proof of Brad Bird's excellent ability to translate his directing sensibilities from animation to live action. However, after doing a terrific job of building up the reveal of the titular location, the film loses quite a bit of steam with an underwhelming third act that makes the whole thing feel like it's taking place on a much smaller scale than what came before. As is the case with many of the projects with which co-writer Damon Lindelof has been involved, it's not anywhere near as deep nor complex as it might have sounded in its development stages. It's a shame that the resolution is a letdown considering how enjoyable the rest of the movie is, so my grade evens out to a B that could have been a notch or two higher if the film had stuck the landing for which it was angling.

I actually loved this and don't understand the negative buzz. It's absolutely gorgeous to look at with stunning cinematography and effects, and has a refreshingly old-fashioned and optimistic feel to it that carries throughout the movie's entire narrative. It's also consistently original and exciting, and I LOVED the message of it all - the last scene actually almost made me cry George Clooney and Britt Robertson were both great and have a natural onscreen chemistry. It goes a little off the rails with the climax but for the most part this is a fantastic family adventure. I'm glad it at least is doing better than Lone Ranger and John Carter. A-

I think there was a good movie in it but messed up by poor script. Brad Bird is talented for sure. But it had the worst 3rd act for his standards.

Anyway why did the robots attack Britt. Were they concerned she will stop the earth destruction? The whole idea around how the earth will destruct was ridiculous. Especially it happening in just 58 days without instant destruction caused by something.

Directed by Brad Bird, the Disney film Tomorrowland features an extraordinary level of Jules Verne- and World's Fair-indebted visual spectacle. The storyline turns on Casey (Britt Robertson), a rebellious and whip-smart teenager who, after spending a night in jail for trying to halt the demolition of a NASA launch pad, finds an unusual pin among her belongings. When she touches it, she is transported to the title futuristic metropolis, a place of flying men and swirling hydroponics as marvelous as it is inexplicable. Her research regarding the origin of the pin leads her to the home of a reclusive inventor (George Clooney) and into the center of a dangerous conflict over the fate of the strange utopia she briefly glimpsed.

The conflict, with its squads of murderous robots and high-energy chases (including a hypnotic stopover at the Eiffel Tower), doubles as an ideological feud: pragmatic hope versus fatalism, and the film's overt argument for the former at times lapses into didactic strong-arm sloganeering, but the general air of heartfelt, nostalgic enthusiasm mostly compensates. And every other element in front of and behind the camera is top-notch or close to it. Bird is clearly engaged with and inspired by the material, and this is my favorite film of his since the masterful Ratatouille. It is a lengthy picture, but well-paced and punctuated with delightful moments of action, humor, mystery, suspense, and even a highly unconventional, almost tragic romantic subplot which is hard to explain and could have registered as creepy, but is instead a thought-provoking rumination on the stinging, transfixing impact of first love.

Robertson is a decently down-to-earth presence as the resolute heroine, though the character (a proxy for the audience and, by extension, a catalyst for explanatory dialogue) is never the film's most arresting element. Movie-star-among-movie-stars slash sexiest-man-alive Clooney challenges himself by playing against type, subduing his usual debonair charm to portray an aging man consumed by grief and resentment, but not entirely beyond redemption. It is a persuasive and stately piece of acting. However, the most memorable player in the ensemble is one featured in none of the film's advertising: Raffey Cassidy, a fresh-faced English girl reportedly aged 12 or 13. She is sensational as Athena, a robot disguised as a child whose primary protocol involves finding the world's best and brightest and recruiting them to contribute to Tomorrowland. Cassidy expertly draws on the ambiguity of the role—how much of her beguiling old-soul sentience is a programming illusion?—to create an imaginative and tantalizing science-fiction character, and she more than holds her own against seasoned veteran Clooney, with whom she plays a couple intense and poignant scenes. Their bond, including a final scene which brought a tear or two to my eyes, is ultimately more powerful than the world-in-peril drama.

B+

A superior along-the-same-lines ending, in my opinion, would be showing environmental and/or humanitarian technology returning from the revived Tomorrowland to help the world. It would be more...concrete and profound than a montage of "special" people once again being recruited to go there. Which obviously turned out poorly the first time.

Oh, and as much as I enjoy it in general, there is one awful moment in this film: the scene with Casey as a baby.

MOM
What if you get there [to the stars], and there's nothing?

BABY CASEY
Wudif dere's everyfing?

Gag.

In what way is the main character whip smart? I guess she has the helicopter UAVs at the beginning but after that she seems pretty passive with Athena reminding us she scored a 73 on some test or another, rather than showing us. it seems more like she believes in a change or something and that is her virtue rather than being smart.

Her intelligence seems to be the main point they want to convey, doesn't it? And it mostly comes down to what you already mentioned. Everything to do with stalling the (de)construction project. Her ultra-high Tomorrowland test score, albeit never explained. There are also repeated, if vague, references to her having a particularly strong understanding of satellites and other technologies, such as the moment near the start where she absent-mindedly fixes wires on the machine her NASA-engineer father is agonizing over.

On another note, Judy Greer (who is on screen for a split second as Casey's mother) was reportedly cut out of the film otherwise, as were other Newton family members. In the screenplay and an early cut of the film, it seems her house is very crowded.

I assumed she was just another dead Disney mother.

Tomorrowland

It's a bloody kiddie-flick! One big advertisement consumes the first third of the film, the second third is bearable as Clooney enters the fray (he always brings class), and the final third is a bore-fest while they try and sum it up with real-world importance. Despite Hugh Laurie's monologue, the final third is just terrible. The only passable section of the film is from the Clooney's hologram dog to the Eiffel Tower. Either side of that is just Disney at its lamest. I honestly cannot believe that Brad Bird directed this film. I guess he was guided by the Disney hand in how to make your film as generic as possible.

It's a strange film. It's almost as if Disney is not allowed to show someone get punched or kicked. It seemed to be hidden by clever camerawork. Paedophile Clooney tries his best at playing Mr. Grumpy but he just cannot pull it off. He's too suave with his gelled hair and chiselled jaw. It's a strange casting choice. He just felt out of place. The two young actresses were terrible. Simply awful. And Hugh Laurie, apart from that speech and his final "bollocks", was pretty dire too. The film didn't seem to have a nice pace either. It was rushed, but not in a way so as to build suspense and excitement. Despite lasting two hours, it just felt like nobody cared to tell an interesting close.

C-

I liked how the film began, with Tomorrowland taking over the Disney mansion/world in the Disney logo animation. But the actual beginning of the film didn't sit well with me.