Developed under the working title 1952, Disney’s theme-park fuelled adventure (more Epcot than Disneyland) has grand ideas and gorgeous future-retro designs to spare. Britt Robertson is rebellious Nasa-sprog Casey Newton who gets an enticing glimpse of an Oz-like alternative dimension in which scientists are left alone to build a better tomorrow. With the Earth heading for ecological disaster (global warming, war, famine etc) this utopia could offer a solution, but all is not well in the brave new Eden.
As with The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, director/co-writer Brad Bird’s fetish for back-to-the-future space-age wonder is tangible – these jet packs, skyscrapers and aerial walkways are worth the price of admission alone. The storytelling, however, is not so sleek, with George Clooney’s once-idealistic inventor significantly struggling to explain the set-up, and proselytising exposition about the nature of human endeavour lacking dramatic (if not philosophical) punch.
Young Raffey Cassidy is a scene-stealer as the film’s AI-like enigma and Hugh Laurie keeps a straight face in a costume lifted straight from Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. I liked it, but then I loved The Rocketeer, an opinion that proved as unpopular as the film!
