Over the weekend I was at Disneyland with family and discovered that they were showing a 10 minute preview of Tomorrowland in the Magic Eye Theater. Thankfully they didn’t show it in 3-D (it’s a post conversion) and I am even more excited to see it as soon as it’s released. It could be the summer film to beat as far as quality wise. I was very impressed with the scene that was shown and it give a great taste of what the tone and scope of the film. Director Brad Bird has said that the film is inspired by Walt Disney’s vision of the future and what it could hold for the human race. Unlike other theme park films this seems to use Tomorrowland in name only and the scene seems to confirm that.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Below is a description of the 10 minute preview so fair warning if you do not want to know what the 10 minute scene consists of skip below for pictures of the props from the film on display.

The scene starts off with young Frank Walker (Thomas Robinson) going to the 1964-1965 Worlds Fair in New York. He is bringing his invention to the Hall of Inventions in the hopes to win the $50.00 prize. He goes up to David Nix (Hugh Laurie) and pulls out a rocket flight backpack as his invention. David asks if it works and Frank has a flashback of the first flight test of the jet-pack. He sort of flies but at most 2-3 feet off the ground crashing through a fence into the cornfield that is very reminiscent of the landing scene from The Rocketeer film. David ask Frank what is the purpose of the jet-pack and Frank says that it’s just for fun. David replies that an invention should change lives not just be about fun. During this time his daughter Athena (Raffey Cassidy) is enamored with Frank and as he leaves the building Athena says that he likes him and that there is something about him that is important.

Frank sits on a bench outside the Hall of Inventions and Athena comes up and sits with her back towards him. She says not to turn around and look but he does anyways. She gives him the Tomorrowland pin and tells him to put it on and that it very important that he wears it. She tells him to follow her and her father. He grabs his jet-pack and follows them to the It’s a Small World ride exhibit and sees that David and Athena gets on a boat with some other people. Frank pushes his way to the front of the line and just as he is about to get on the cast member says that the ride is temporally closed. Frank sees that there is an empty boat and runs to jump on it with his jet-pack in tow. He can see the other boat ahead of him and as it turns one of the corners it disappears. He has a puzzled look and then a laser sees his Tomorrowland pin scans it and the computer voice says that access is granted. The floor opens up and the boat goes down a ramp to a dark room. The lights come on and the boat docks and an elevator type car door opens and tells him to go in. He goes in with the jet-pack and the door closes.

A voice says a count down to take off and that all passengers should wear their protective helmet. He is too short to grab one and the lift take off and Frank bounces around the cabin. The cabin stops and the door opens to a landing area. Frank steps out with his jet-pack and walks along the dock and sees another cabin with Athena and David flying off. He walks to the edge and can’t see anything but clouds. All of a sudden robots appear and start to build on the dock and Frank ducks for cover trying to avoid the construction and drops the jet-pack and damages it. Frank escapes but the robot grabs his jet-pack and proceeds to work on it. He asks the robot if he had fixed it and the robot acknowledges him that he has.

Frank goes to get the jet-pack from him and the construction starts again and Frank and the jet-pack fall off the platform. As he is falling he sees the jet-pack not too far from him and he starts to try to get to it. He is able to grab ahold but he struggles with the safety belt. He sees that he is quickly going to hit the ground so he ties the safety belt and activated the jet-pack that now works and he lands safely on the ground and that is the end of the scene.

The scene is followed by some new clips not previously shown in the trailers and shed some new light on the story. From the scene and the clips we have discovered some possible plot elements. We see a shot of Athena and older Frank (George Clooney) and it’s safe to say with her actions in the World’s Fair scene that she appears to be a robot. It appears that David Nix is from the future and is using the Hall of Invention to recruit inventors to the future. Because Frank is an inventor we can figure that they have been keeping tabs on him and when Casey Newton (Britt Robertson) shows up on his door step it triggers the robots from the future for some reason.

END OF SPOILERS

Before you go into the theater there are reproductions of material from the 1964-1965 World’s Fair that were nice and went well with the clip.

Next to the theater where Starcade used to be there is a display of props and designs from the film and televisions with clips from the movie and the cut animated sequences from the film.

Here are the photos that I took of the displays. It was very difficult because of the reflections on the glass so there are some shots that you can see me taking the pictures.

As you can see the detail that the props from the film have and the recreation of the World’s Fair was stunning. This may be the best summer film to come along in a while and hopefully the film will be as impressive as this sneak peek was.