Movie Week - Escape From Tomorrow

via jorislaquittant.deviantart.com

Part of the joy of Movie Week is checking out a film that I probably wouldn’t have ordinarily have watched.  Sometimes it’s because I wouldn’t have had access to it in theaters or because it’s not a huge movie and it flew under the radar. 

It’s a fun opportunity to venture outside of my normal comfort zone as a viewer.  Of course sometimes it’s not so fun. 

And so we have Escape from Tomorrow. 

Escape From Tomorrow piqued by interest from the moment I heard about it.  A filmmaker shot a movie inside of Disneyland and Walt Disney World, without Disney permission.  Doesn’t that have your attention?  Aren’t you curious about that film? 

The story goes that Disney didn’t try to sue the writer/director Randy Moore because they didn’t want to risk giving the film publicity.  Again, don’t you want to see this movie? 

Well, having watched it, I can say that it’s both a success and a failure. 

It’s a success as an experiment.  I applaud Moore and his crew on their ingenuity and planning.  Putting together this movie is feat and deserves some serious props.  It’s actually an inspiring movie in that regard. 

But it’s a failure in terms of entertainment quality.  I guess it’s a satire on Disney and the fantasy that is being sold to tourists.  And there are hints of an edge in this film, but it’s not nearly as sharp as it could be. 

Knowing how much effort went into preproduction and pulling off shooting this film guerilla-style it makes me wish they’d put more effort into story, script, dialogue and character.  It’s a mess to watch. 

There’s also a problem with cohesiveness.  The scenes that take place with green screen backdrop are jarring because everything else is shot handheld style.  So, those stationary shots just draw your attention to the green screen backdrop, taking you out of the scene. 

I can’t really blame the actors, who were just working with the material they were given, but they weren’t anything to write home about either. 

Like I said, Escape From Tomorrow works as an experiment, as a movie, not so much.