Young Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) has dreams of the future and all that is outer space. So when a young girl, named Athena (Raffey Cassidy) with a persuasive British accent sees the ‘hope’ in him, he becomes a chosen one in what will be earth’s future.
As an audience, all at once we realize this film is something different and something special. And with some futuristic message, our children ARE the future…
When Frank travels through Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World” he’s taken into a portal where magical space fantasies begin to play out. And then derails…before turning into a new story about a feisty and defiant teenage girl named Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) who is always disobeying her father, not because she’s into drugs, or boys or disrespectful, but because she’s this generation’s chosen one, picking up the pieces where Young Frank Walker left off. Her father is a NASA engineer with nothing to launch….
The premise centers around a blue pin from the 1964 World’s Fair. Once given the pin you can be transported into the future and back again. Obtaining the pin gives you a pass to save-the-world, and suddenly this kids adventure gets heavy in inspiration albeit bogged down in dialog.
The story is narrated by George Clooney who is grown up Frank Walker, where we pick up forty years later. Hugh Laurie plays Nix, the nemesis with his entourage of robotic bad boys that make the story feel like Men in Black meets Back to the Future.
At times the film felt as if it would garnish a 4 tiara rating. At times only 2, (in its mumble jumble talky ending) but when the credits roll, it deserves a 3 tiara rating, as certainly the most original and special effects-driven movie of the year. Walt isn’t rolling in his grave, but he’s giving it a thumbs up. ♔ ♕ ♚