Tomorrowland was such an uncharacteristically bad movie from director Brad Bird that many of us were left wondering if there was some behind-the-scenes drama that affected the final product – which looked more like a prologue stretched to the breaking point than a three-act movie. As with most things Disney, there’s more than enough information to create your own conspiracy theory.
There was a lot that got trimmed from the final product, most notably all references to Disney, which was weird, because, you know, it was still called “Tomorrowland.” Another storyline that got cut was the backstory of Plus Ultra, the group in the movie who conceived Tomorrowland. (Spoilers to follow)
The backstory for Brad Bird’s film Tomorrowland contains a lot of detail about the beneficent cabal known as Plus Ultra, a secretive group of dreamers which conceived and built a futuristic creative paradise. In the actual film, however, we don’t see too much about Plus Ultra.
Pixar actually animated a short scene that was meant to quickly define and explain Plus Ultra. Bird, however, decided the bit killed the pace of the film, and he cut it. That clip is online and you can watch the Pixar Tomorrowland sequence below. [SlashFilm]
It’s a cool clip, not least of which because it’s voiced by Maurice LaMarche, of Pinky and the Brain fame (he really does sound like a Maurice). But I’m not sure it solves any of Tomorrowland‘s problems. I’m still not sure how Tomorowland relates (is affected by? is connected to?) regular Earth reality, or why Tomorrowland turned to sh*t when they discovered the Earth was doomed. Especially when the bad guy ostensibly didn’t care about Earth. To say nothing of the fact that it took the movie more than an hour just to even get to Tomorrowland. But you know me, I’m just being negative again. George Clooney is never going to invite me on his space rocket, and now I’ll never be able to fix the Earth, with equation guy, guitar hobo, ballet girl, and friends. That was a little inside joke for the three people reading this who actually saw this movie.