Story

The year is 1964, and 12-year-old genius Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) is at the New York World’s Fair to enter his rocket-powered jet pack in a competition. Frank meets an intriguing young girl called Athena (Raffey Cassidy). Athena tells Frank that she is the future and that he should follow her, so he follows her into a theme park ride. During the ride, Frank is transported to a dimension in time and space called Tomorrowland, where hover cars and rocket ships are the norm.

The movie then shifts to the present where teenage activist Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) is trying to stop the demolition of an old NASA launch platform. The decommissioning of the platform will cost Casey’s father his job. Unfortunately Casey is arrested and placed in custody. 

When Casey is bailed she discovers an old World’s Fair badge among her possessions. When she touches the badge, she’s transported to a futuristic world. While trying to find out more about her badge, Casey is held at gunpoint by a couple who want the badge. Athena rescues Casey and takes her to meet the now adult Frank Walker (George Clooney). We learn that Frank was evicted from Tomorrowland for creating an invention that had catastrophic consequences for both Tomorrowland and Earth.

Casey and Frank travel to Tomorrowland to save both Tomorrowland and the Earth. But to do so, they must find a way around Frank’s nemesis, David Nix (Hugh Laurie).

Themes

Time travel; alternative realities; catastrophic events

Violence

Tomorrowland has sequences of science fiction action violence, some gun-related violence and multiple deaths. There is minimal blood and gore, however. For example:

• There is brief news footage of violent crowds rioting and riot police confronting crowds. 
  A teenage girl threatens her five-year-old brother by saying, ‘If you wake up Dad, I will crush you’.
• A man and a woman fire laser guns at two young girls. One girl attacks the man and woman, punching one in the head while smashing the other’s face into a cabinet. The man is stabbed in the chest and then decapitated. At this point we learn that the man and woman are robots.
• Seconds later the two robots explode in a giant ball of flames.
• In a fight involving several men, one is stabbed in the chest and another electrocuted. Several men disintegrate in a shower of sparks when shot by a laser gun.
• A man uses a handgun to brutally hit another man in the side of the head. The force of the blow caves in the side of the man’s head. No blood and gore is shown, and the injured man carries on as though nothing has happened.
• In one scene a ute crashes into a girl, knocking her to the ground. After regaining consciousness, she jumps up and runs after the ute. She jumps into the back of the ute, punches her fist through the rear window and jumps into the front seat. When the driver slams on the brakes, the girl’s head hits the dashboard, but no injuries are shown.
• A man shoots a young girl in the chest. This leaves a gaping hole in her chest. The young girl is a robot who later self-destructs.
• There are futuristic images of a destroyed Earth.

Sexual references

Tomorrowland has some sexual references. For example, as a boy Frank appears to be fascinated by Athena and she encourages his attention. As an adult, Frank admits he fell in love with her, but later found out that she was a robot.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Tomorrowland has some references to substance use. For example, a father asks his daughter if she is using drugs after she is arrested by the police.

Nudity and sexual activity

Nothing of concern

Product placement

Tomorrowland displays Coca Cola.

Coarse language

Tomorrowland has some mild coarse language.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Tomorrowland is a science fiction action adventure from Disney Studios. The movie has an innovative storyline with George Clooney and Hugh Laurie providing star appeal.

Tomorrowland targets tweens and teenagers but has some rather intense violence and disturbing scenes that might scare young viewers. We therefore do not recommend it for children under 12 years, and we suggest parental guidance for children aged 12-14 years.

These are the main messages from this movie:

• The tiniest of actions can change the world.
• It isn’t hard to knock something down. But it is hard to build something else in its place.

Values that you could reinforce with your children include altruism and innovation. You could also discuss Casey’s destruction of government property and whether this is justified.