Escape from Tomorrow
Directed by: Randy Moore
Written by: Randy Moore
Starring: Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber, Katelynn Rodriguez, Jack Dalton, Danielle Safady, Annet Mahendru, Lee Armstrong, Amy Lucas, Alison Lees-Taylor
Drama/Fantasy/Horror - 90 min
Written by: Randy Moore
Starring: Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber, Katelynn Rodriguez, Jack Dalton, Danielle Safady, Annet Mahendru, Lee Armstrong, Amy Lucas, Alison Lees-Taylor
Drama/Fantasy/Horror - 90 min
Of course Disney World will not be the happiest place on Earth if you are a jackass, and our boy Jim is definitely a jackass. Yes, he has a nagging wife and two kids who take their turns trying his patience, but almost all of his problems are his own doing. Shot on the sly at both Disney World and Disneyland, Escape from Tomorrow may be impressive guerilla filmmaking under the leering eyes of one of the largest companies on the planet, but that in no way makes up for an awful script.
Jim (Roy Abramsohn) takes the family to Disney World for a few days. His wife, Emily (Elena Schuber), and two kids, Elliot and Sara (Jack Dalton and Katelynn Rodriguez), are excited to go to the castle, ride the rides, and would probably be cool with skipping Epcot. Things start off pretty bad for Jim though. He gets an early morning phone call informing him he is fired, we don’t know why, and Elliot decides to lock daddy on the balcony. Don’t know why he does that either.
There is a lot going on during the family’s day at the Disney park, but we have no idea what the hell any of it means. Jim hallucinates on a ride imagining ghouls and goblins everywhere, Jim starts ogling and then stalking a pair of very young teenaged French girls, and there is a fat man in a neck brace on a motor scooter who keeps popping up everywhere. The entire movie is watching Jim and various members of his family experience some rides, walk around the park, get in fights, and stalk some teenage girls. It is not horror even though it tries to be scary and it is not satiric comedy even though it tries to be wryly amusing.
Is writer/director Randy Moore just showing off? Look at me; I can shoot a movie at Disney theme parks without anybody noticing! I bet they didn’t care. Disney does come off in a pretty bad light though. After seeing this movie, nobody is going to raise his or her hand and volunteer to go to Disney World. The weather looks hot and humid, there are lines and crowds everywhere, all items are way too expensive, and you may get something called cat flu. Again, we have no idea what cat flu is but we know it’s around.
Disney has nothing to fear from Escape from Tomorrow. They most likely could have litigated the matter in courts for decades but I bet one of the high-ranking execs saw the film and discovered this movie is pretty bad. It doesn’t skewer Disney so much as push forward some old urban myths about the parks such as the turkey legs not really being made out of turkey or that the princesses are high-priced call girls.
The biggest fear Disney should have is that potential customers get Disney fatigue after seeing the movie before coming to the park, but never fear, only cinephiles are going to take the time to watch the movie, not Disney’s true client base. Escape from Tomorrow may have the year’s best movie poster, but it is the worst movie of the year about a man’s midlife crisis? Just guessing, I still don’t know what is going on in this movie.
Jim (Roy Abramsohn) takes the family to Disney World for a few days. His wife, Emily (Elena Schuber), and two kids, Elliot and Sara (Jack Dalton and Katelynn Rodriguez), are excited to go to the castle, ride the rides, and would probably be cool with skipping Epcot. Things start off pretty bad for Jim though. He gets an early morning phone call informing him he is fired, we don’t know why, and Elliot decides to lock daddy on the balcony. Don’t know why he does that either.
There is a lot going on during the family’s day at the Disney park, but we have no idea what the hell any of it means. Jim hallucinates on a ride imagining ghouls and goblins everywhere, Jim starts ogling and then stalking a pair of very young teenaged French girls, and there is a fat man in a neck brace on a motor scooter who keeps popping up everywhere. The entire movie is watching Jim and various members of his family experience some rides, walk around the park, get in fights, and stalk some teenage girls. It is not horror even though it tries to be scary and it is not satiric comedy even though it tries to be wryly amusing.
Is writer/director Randy Moore just showing off? Look at me; I can shoot a movie at Disney theme parks without anybody noticing! I bet they didn’t care. Disney does come off in a pretty bad light though. After seeing this movie, nobody is going to raise his or her hand and volunteer to go to Disney World. The weather looks hot and humid, there are lines and crowds everywhere, all items are way too expensive, and you may get something called cat flu. Again, we have no idea what cat flu is but we know it’s around.
Disney has nothing to fear from Escape from Tomorrow. They most likely could have litigated the matter in courts for decades but I bet one of the high-ranking execs saw the film and discovered this movie is pretty bad. It doesn’t skewer Disney so much as push forward some old urban myths about the parks such as the turkey legs not really being made out of turkey or that the princesses are high-priced call girls.
The biggest fear Disney should have is that potential customers get Disney fatigue after seeing the movie before coming to the park, but never fear, only cinephiles are going to take the time to watch the movie, not Disney’s true client base. Escape from Tomorrow may have the year’s best movie poster, but it is the worst movie of the year about a man’s midlife crisis? Just guessing, I still don’t know what is going on in this movie.
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