Tomorrowland (2015)

The movie opens with a dark monologue from Frank Walker (George Clooney), who paints a picture of inevitable doom.  However, his introduction is repeatedly interrupted by a woman off screen who thinks he is being excessively gloomy and also isn't starting at the beginning.  He starts again.

In 1964, young Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) arrives in New York to attend the World's Fair and show off his invention, a jetpack!  Doctor David Nix (Hugh Laurie) is unimpressed as the jetpack does not work and, if it did, would have little benefit.  Nix sends Walker on his way.  Frank has hardly walked away when a young girl, Athena (Raffey Cassidy), announces that she likes Frank.  She chases after Frank, gives him a pin, and tells him to follow her.  He gets on a ride and, because he is wearing the pin, it takes him down a different tunnel that leads to Tomorrowland.  Tomorrowland is an invitation-only alternate dimension where the smart people have created a high-tech utopia.  Frank has hardly arrived than a giant robot makes his jetpack work and he flies through and about the futuristic buildings and structures.

Fast forward to today (i.e., the near future) and Cassie Newton (Britt Robertson).  Casie - who was the off screen voice in the opening - has been sabotaging efforts to dismantle the NASA launch site at Cape Canaveral.  She has dreams of being an astronaut, but the US is shutting down its ability to go to space.  The sabotage has not gone unnoticed and her next effort is foiled when she is arrested.  After being bailed out of jail, she finds that a pin is among her belongings.  However, when she touches it, she is instantly transported to a wheatfield on the outskirts of Tomorrowland!  Or is she?  As she walks, she bumps into the wall.  Athena, who has not aged a day since 1964, provided the pin to lure Casie into her grand plan.  From this point on, Casie finds herself hunted by robots from Tomorrowland and must somehow get to Tomorrowland to save the world.

The movie has a message that mankind is ruining the Earth.  Casie is the only person in the world who has both the innate technical know-how and upbeat optimism to prevent Armageddon.  However, as it works out, her real contribution was to jar Frank Walker from his apathy and get him to save the world.  Really, Casie is mostly along for the ride, a catalyst to get the story rolling and a 'normal' person to provide the audience with a window into this bizarre high-tech universe.

Mostly disappointing.  It has some good moments, but it provides mostly uninteresting characters in an unlikely setting.  Also, for a Disney film, it was off-putting how the robots would just disintegrate random people.  Yeah, murder robots aren't cool and shouldn't be played for laughs.

Skip.