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Preachy 'Tomorrowland' is out to save the world and defeat pessimism (C)

Tomorrowland director Brad Bird has spent most of his career in animation, with titles including The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille to his name. Tomorrowland is only his second live-action feature, after 2011's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. With each of his previous films, Bird created something original and satisfying, combining a sense of play and invention with heart and sincerity. But with Tomorrowland, which he co-wrote with Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers), he's crafted an overly busy film that can, at times, be unbearably preachy.

At the film's heart is a single question: What if we could actually do something about war, poverty, global warming and the world's other ills? That's what the bright, celestial city of the title was built for. Situated in another dimension, it was meant to be a place where the world's best thinkers, inventors and artists could generate life-changing solutions that would better the world and all mankind.

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But if Tomorrowland is about saving the world and the human race, it's also about saving this ideal citadel from the destructive power of pessimism.

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That job falls to Casey Newton. Played with passion and curiosity by Britt Robertson, Casey is a bright girl who wants to change the world and a self-described optimist. When a mysterious pin from the 1964 World's Fair introduces her to the gleaming city from another time and place, she directs all her energy into finding it.

Her search takes her to the reclusive inventor Frank Walker (George Clooney). Frank was a boy when he first gained entrance to Tomorrowland. And while he once called it home, he was ousted years ago and forbidden to return. But now, with Casey on his doorstep, he has to find a way back and confront both old memories and Governor Nix (Hugh Laurie). Nix rules Tomorrowland with an iron fist. Like the other characters, he wants to save the world, but instead of using hope to inspire change, he's trying to save it through fear.

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This photo released by Disney shows, George Clooney, as Frank Walker, in a scene from...
This photo released by Disney shows, George Clooney, as Frank Walker, in a scene from Disney's "Tomorrowland." The film releases in U.S. theaters May 22, 2015.(Film Frame / AP)

The battle between the movie's heroes - whose ranks also include Athena, a robot programmed to find recruits for Tomorrowland - and Nix is framed as a battle between good and evil. But it feels like the real message of Tomorrowland is something more trite: Let's all just stay positive. Harmony and innovation are great, but the power of positive thinking is even more potent. That's certainly an honorable position, but Bird and Lindelof all but issue a secular altar call to the audience, inviting us all to drop what we're doing and change the world. It would have been better if they'd listened to an early line of dialogue in their own film: It's OK if something doesn't change the world as long as it's fun.

By Andrew Welch, Special Contributor