Escape from Tomorrow

Scott Hardie: “It ruled.”

When I first heard about this movie, I had to see it. Someone surreptitiously filmed an entire feature-length movie inside Walt Disney World? And it got released without being sued into oblivion? Amazing! The movie itself is not as interesting as the filmmaking stunt that created it, but it's not bad, especially if you grade it on a curve given how difficult it must have been to shoot. The early going is tough to watch because the hero does unlikeable things and the subplots are very repetitive, but have patience: When the hero's madness escalates, the movie is able to foreground its sexual symbolism and finally gain narrative and thematic cohesion, weaving some thought-provoking (if somewhat corny) psycho-drama out of the Disney mythology. The in-jokes are terrific, particularly in one lusty sex scene that plays with Disney trivia, and it's neat to count how many times the movie stays just on this side of the legal line preventing it from being sued, like tweaking the song lyrics at famous attractions. If you go into it with the proper expectations -- a certain degree of pretentiousness for it being an art movie, and a certain roughness for it being a directorial debut shot on handheld cameras -- you can really enjoy this weird little indie flick. There's definitely no other movie like this.

− July 13, 2014 • more by Scott • log in or create an account to reply