Review 19: Escape from Tomorrow (2013)

I first heard about this film on Doug Loves Movies when Roy Abramsohn was on an episode to help promote this indie, guerilla film.  I was intrigued to see the film as the whole thing was shot in Disney World without the consent or permission of Walt Disney. The idea that this could be done is super interesting and Escape from Tomorrow (watch for free with Amazon Prime), which has a 5.2 out of 10 stars on IMDB and 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, made it onto my list of films to eventually watch.

This is usually where the plot gets a summary, but I think this may be a bit challenging as the plot is weak. Jim (Roy Abramsohn), his wife Emily (Elena Schuber), and their two kids are on vacation at Disney World when Jim receives the bad news call that he is fired. Their day begins and Jim becomes uncomfortably obsessed with two French teenagers, and it is at this point the film starts to hint that things aren’t quite right but never really clear on what exactly is wrong. A reference to cat flu, a possible real life witch, an android doing experiments, and a bunch of other random things that close out this film are…well…random.  The end of the film tries to have an interesting twist that was alluded to by the android, but it feels forced and not at all convincing.

The only really interesting part of the movie is how the film was made at Disney World. It’s interesting and somewhat comical at times, but much of the dialogue feels improvised (not the good kind of improv) and ultimately the story feels aimless. A film with a gimmick does not necessarily make a good film, and I think this one fall short. The performance by Abramsohn is the best for sure, but it’s also the most prominent.  He is able to be a completely unlikely protagonist and warrants no sympathy from the audience.

The best scene in the film is the family on the small world ride. Due to copyright law they had to replace the traditional “It’s a small world after all” horror of a song with a possibly worse instrumental song. It depicts Jim going through what most dad’s feel while going through that ride; An odd mix of fear and aggravation. This is early and the film and it definitely made me laugh a little.  Much of the movie is odd scenes with interesting camera work and lighting, but it doesn’t make up for the kind of aimless plot. I believe had they focused on one clear antagonist then maybe the film would have worked for me.

There are some bad green screen moments that were likely necessary considering they weren’t allowed to film at Disney World, but that doesn’t really make them any better. The movie has the feel of a B-movie that desperately wants to be an indie-film. A weird hodgepodge of artsy film making and pointless plot leaving me with Escape from Tomorrow deserving a 3 out of 10 copyright infringements.