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Escape from Tomorrow

2/3/2016

10 Comments

 

D-
0.78

In a world of fake castles and anthropomorphic rodents, an epic battle begins when an unemployed father's sanity is challenged by a chance encounter with two underage girls on holiday.

Directed by Randy Moore

Initial Review by Chris Cook

PictureThe feeling you get when watching Escape from Tomorrow.
​“You have quite the imagination.” But sometimes, you can have a little too much.
 
First off, I praise the accomplishments of the crew of Escape from Tomorrow for using “guerilla” tactics to secretly film a motion picture at the Walt Disney parks. Reading on Wikipedia, cast members kept scripts on their phones and used simple equipment that tourists would record home movies on. I’m also glad a dark movie like this was filmed in black and white. Disney is quite the colorful place and it definitely would’ve had less of an effect.

The film starts off with footage of happy guests riding attractions at Disney (mainly Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, ironically a ride I still haven’t experienced myself). Then a guy gets decapitated. Okay, I’m intrigued. The story follows Jim, a married man with two children, who’s on the last day of a family vacation, only to get a phone call that he’s been fired from his job. This is stressed in the vague description of the movie as an important event, but throughout a majority of the film, I felt it had little impact on the craziness that occurs. So the family hops on the Monorail and goes to the Magic Kingdom. On board, Jim becomes infatuated with two French teenagers (yep, a lot of foreigners go to Disney, haha).
 
We’re treated to normal stuff; the family enjoys many of the attractions. Jim starts hallucinating and losing his mind a little bit (reaction from losing his job, is he on drugs?), seeing demonic-looking faces on It’s a Small World. This was taken as normal by me because that ride is creepy as hell. Early on, we can see and feel Jim’s annoyance with his family life. Eventually they split up when there’s a disagreement on which ride to go on by the two children, Elliot and Sara. For a family vacation, a lot of time was spent apart. The dad waits in line forever for the Buzz Lightyear ride, only to have it break down just as they were about to get on (an experience I’m familiar with on the Escape from Gringotts ride at Universal), while Emily, his wife, and Sara ride a series of attractions. After this, Jim finds and begins to follow the two French teenagers, even taking his son on Space Mountain, aware that he deals with motion sickness.
 
This leads to one of the many arguments between Jim and Emily after they meet back up, only to split up again. (Is this what going to Disney as a family is like?) By now, it’s clear that the parents have some issues. Jim is trying to be playful with Emily who is like ‘not now, the kids are here.’ Emily also came across as kind of a bitch and a definite Buzz Killington. And she doesn’t even know Jim had lost his job yet.
 
The kids swap which parent they go with (Emily takes Elliot back to the hotel and Sara goes with Jim). In the next sequences, we’re introduced to a number of supporting characters and a hint to the awkward conclusion. We encounter (although we see him earlier) an odd man on a motorized cart, whose son pushed Emily over. While treating her scraped knee at a nurse’s station, we learn of the dreaded Cat flu (having seen some guests on the Monorail coughing earlier). After the nurse station visit, Jim meets a strange lady with a hypnotizing necklace on a park bench. She explains that the turkey legs are actually emus and that the Disney princesses are prostitutes that service rich Asian businessman. And if things aren’t fucked up enough yet, Jim wakes up in her hotel room having sex with her.
 
Who is this apparent witch? What involvement does the guy on the cart have since he appears multiple times, and what about this Cat flu? They were all imaginative concepts, but as a whole lacked focused. What did losing his job have to do with this? And what about the French teenagers? His wife later catches him attempting to talk to one of them in the swimming pool at their hotel, leading to another argument about sunscreen. She also discovers that he had been browsing through a French language book at one of the shops. Ugh!
 
The second half of the movie takes place at Epcot. This is apparently the longest extended-hours day at the Disney parks in history. Seriously, how long did this day last that they were able to do as much as they did? By this point Jim is fed up with his wife and drinking a lot, but seriously, that’s what you do at Epcot. This is just making Emily bitch and complain more. During yet another argument he finally tells her about losing his job, and when Sara pesters about wanting a souvenir she gets slapped by her mom. The circle of life continues as the family splits up yet again, giving Jim the chance to run into the French teenagers and pursue a fantasy life, which he does on the ride Soarin’ as he imagines a naked “dream lady” on the screen.
 
It’s called the happiest place on earth, but are the people visiting really happy? Are they being who they really want to be? Are they trapped in marriages? This is one of the overall themes that I felt could’ve been touched on better if they didn’t decide to take the M. Night Shyamalan, what the fuck just happened twist direction. Another running theme was losing your children. Was Jim so unhappy in his current situation that he just forgets that he had kids? The witch and French teenagers really had a hold on him, as he frequently turned his back on his family to envision this fantasy life. We can be proud of Jim, however, for turning down a request from one of the French girls to go with their group. This leads to him being spat on, realizing that once again his daughter is missing and then the crazy happens.
 
Jim gets a nadful of taser and wakes up underneath the Spaceship Earth attraction. He is being held by an android (although we don’t know this until Jim decapitates him) of the Siemens Corporation. We learn that Jim has been part of an experiment since his father took him to Disney when he was a boy. Visions of who he really wants to be appear on the screen. Everything he has encountered (the ride breaking down, him losing his job) has all been planned. It was now supposed to be time for him to turn over Elliot so the circle can continue. What?
 
We have another brief encounter with the man on the cart (that character’s purpose didn’t go anywhere), and now Jim is once again looking for his daughter (surprise, surprise). He finds her in the witch’s hotel room lying down on the bed looking like a sacrifice of some sort. As Jim gets her, Sara knocks off the witch’s hypnotizing necklace and they escape.
Disney closes down, Jim sings Sara to sleep and then he has explosive diarrhea and coughs up hairballs. The French girl’s spit has given him Cat flu.
 
So, Jim dies in the morning after Elliot had woken up and left his dying father in the bathroom. We didn’t get much emotion from any of the family that their father/husband just passed away. From the get go with Elliot, I was like, great another jerk of a child (I did just watch We Need To Talk About Kevin). The hazard team comes in, with no masks on, which I thought was awkward dealing with a flu-like virus. One guy “magically” plants images in Elliot’s head of the Buzz Lightyear ride to make him forget what actually happened. They reset the room (no one died here) and take Jim’s body out as happy guests flock into the park. As Jim’s corpse leaves in a white van that he noticed the first day, “the real Jim” arrives to the hotel with his fantasy girl and a daughter and is greeted to the happiest place on earth. Maybe that’s what happens when we die. We get to go to Disney World as our true self.
 
Overall, like I said in the beginning, I give them credit for pulling off a difficult feat in filming this. To be even more secretive, the film was edited in South Korea to continue hiding from Disney’s eyes. In the aftermath, the Walt Disney Company opted to ignore the film to avoid increasing its exposure. I liked the concept of true happiness and the bizarre Cat flu (which was hinted at early on), but I feel like the imagination of Randy Moore (director and writer) got carried away. It was almost as if new ideas kept popping out and he couldn’t stay focused without making additional changes. Some things should’ve been left on the drawing room floor. The lack of execution when telling the story hurt this one for me. What would you expect from someone that writes movies (or is supposed to be writing movies)? I enjoyed this movie, but it started losing me once the extreme bizarreness and lack of realism started and I had to think back to remember how and when things were connected. A good effort, but this one falls short. I think I’ll still give it a C though.

10 Comments
Admin
2/3/2016 11:19:50 pm

Saved for replies to the initial review.

Reply
Sean
2/4/2016 09:37:32 am

I watched about a half hour so far during my lunch yesterday, had a couple thoughts I didn't want to lose- Disney World is awful- especially the Magic Kingdom. It's super expensive and all the rides are exactly the same boring thing with different animatronics and music. I laughed my ass off when the Buzz Lightyear ride was closed when he got to the front and said what the fuck because that was the only fun thing in that place. Don't give me crap about how my joy is from watching my children have fun- entertain me too asshole.
Other thought is its really creepy so far and one of the two jailbaiters is in The Americans. All for now.

Reply
Lane
2/4/2016 07:44:51 pm

I think this film proves that making a movie isn’t really that hard—you need a camera a script and a few people to act it out; making a good movie is really hard, however. This film felt like the filmmakers were so proud of making the ultimate guerilla film and taking on the institution of the Mouse that they forgot to actually write a compelling story or direct the film. The acting was terrible. Part of this was the actors fault (they just weren’t very good), but no doubt the guerilla nature of the film didn’t help—I assume the actors might have gotten two or three takes at the most for each scene.

It’s hard to imagine that a 90 minute film should have been about 60 minutes shorter, but this was the case here. This would have been better as a short film. It seemed like the camera people were so excited about sneaking cameras in to Disney that they figured they might as well film as many of the rides as possible. Thirty minutes in I was bored. It felt like a masturbatory film school project. I didn’t understand why it was shot in black and white. Whatever reason the filmmakers give for that cinematography decision is just BS. I call that without even reading it.

This film just seemed like a few people who read some Don DeLillo and decided they’ll make a stupid postmodern statement on the American family. Unfortunately, you need good actors, a good script, and decent direction to say anything worth watching. I couldn’t wait to escape from “Escape from Tomorrow.”

Grade: D

Reply
Cooker
2/5/2016 09:06:11 am

Agree that this could've worked as a short. If they would've focused on the cat flu aspect, it might have been an actual story about the repercussions of ignoring your family (and stalking French girls) on your family vacation.

Reply
Bryan
2/4/2016 11:07:04 pm

I could not enjoy this on a boat.
I will not enjoy this while they vote.
I will not enjoy this living on the plain.
I will not enjoy this with my daughter Jane.
It missed the mark! Not even with tea!
Not with a czar! Leave me, I plea!
I do not like the acting of the docs.
I do not like picturing the dad's cocks.
I will not enjoy this with my spouse.
I did not like the actress' blouse.
Listen everyone you hear or sneer.
I did not like this, I swear.

A slight bump for evidently being "guerilla", D-

Reply
Jon
2/7/2016 03:06:31 am

I imagine Randy Moore telling people about his film, always leading with "I shot it in Disney land." Whoever he's talking to will ask what it's about, and he'll respond with "There was a close call at least once a week, where we almost got busted." The poor other half of this conversation will ask again what Moore's movie is about, and he'll come back with, "I tell you, guerilla filmmaking is where it's at." The story of making Escape From Tomorrow is significantly more interesting than the content of the movie itself. All the subterfuge necessary to get the story on camera is wasted on an overstuffed, often offensive jumble of leering middle-aged men and random sci-fi elements.

The central couple is the font of the general awfulness. He's a distracted idiot, which makes her into a hectoring shrew. The male lead might be introduced while he's being fired, but the stiffness of the acting and dialogue don't make me care about him, at all. His stalking of the two French girls just needed a club and bearskin to be complete, as he's basically a gaping caveman with his boner serving as a divining rod for women who are unattracted to him. Roy Abrahamson is utterly charmless in the role, and every second with him is a chore. His wife is better but only because we spend less time with her. At least she isn't drooling over continental teenagers. Fuck these people, may the cat flu take them all.

The decision to put the effort into filming at Disney Land, and then have the final product be this is a tragedy. I'm sure anyone who's ever worked for a moderate amount of time at Disney Land could give a writer plenty of jumping off points better than the many things happening in Escape From Tomorrow. There's robots, pandemics, and reincarnation on top of the family drama. Pick one supernatural thing to layer on to the quotidian stuff, and call it a day.

Phil mentions one of his criteria as whether or not the movie accomplished its goals. Escape From Tomorrow's goals are to make a movie in Disney Land. Way to go, you did it. If only there were likable actors or a coherent story to go with it. I've never been to a Disney property, and the only reason Moore gives me to ever want to go is to punch a grabby Asian businessman in his creepy face. For redeeming factors, the germ of a good idea, captured in the juxtaposition of cleaning the post-flu hotel room and thousands more flooding into the park, and some respectable kid acting means I don't hate it, but those are threads pulling it out of F territory. I'm at a D.

Reply
Drew
2/8/2016 09:30:22 pm

I was not high or drunk enough to enjoy this film.

Grade: D-

Reply
Sean
2/10/2016 12:03:19 am

This guys wife sure is a cunt. He probably should've jumped off the balcony when he had the chance.

I hate movies in black and white for no reason.

In the spirit of the guerrila movie I hope the guy really got drunk at Epcot, it's the only good thing about Epcot. If this wasn't so terrible someone would probably analyze how much he spent on booze there.

For a chick born in 1830 Emily Dickinson has some hotness to her. Modern hair and makeup she'd be at least a 7.

I don't think neosporin squirts like that.

How much of this happened, how much was hallucination. Why'd the beep out the word Disney but still show mouse ears and Epcot and the Magic Kingdom, all that crap is trademarked too.

You guys are too generous with the grades. Stupid story, impossible to follow, bad acting, bad direction, black and white. This is an F.

Reply
Bryan
2/10/2016 11:12:43 am

You talked me into it. My D- was including things film noir things I actually don't care about.

Reply
Sean
2/10/2016 11:29:15 am

Mark it down Jon, I convinced someone to change a grade- that makes it a review of the year nomination




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