Escape From Tomorrow - Review

During his family's visit to Disney World, Jim begins experiencing hallucinations and odd coincidences that test his sanity after a chance encounter with French teenagers in Escape From Tomorrow.


I'm the first to admit that I only watched this movie mainly because of the controversy it stirred up. When I heard about a guerilla movie filmed inside the Disney Parks I was intrigued to see exactly what it was about. However, I will admit that I don't really understand what the hell happened in this movie.
Regarding the main character of Jim, I don't really understand what the significance of his "madness" was exactly. Was he really hated by his wife because he had wandering eyes? Was he insane and/or had blackouts and came to during weird events? How did his daughter not tell the mother what was happening but the son was verbal about the weird things? While on the subject of the son, what was that kid's problem? Was he a robot or something?

There are just too many questions with this movie. I wouldn't go far enough to say I didn't enjoy it, but nothing really came together. It was just a bunch of weird events shoved into one movie and they tried to tie them all together with one central character. It didn't quite work.
I will say that for an undercover film it was pretty well shot. I have been to Disneyland many times and the camera policy isn't really there. I've seen guests walk around with GoPro cams on hand-held tripods and stuff like that, so I'm a bit surprised that this was such a big deal. Go on YouTube and you'll find hundreds of videos shot inside Disney Parks. I appreciated the use of black and white, too.


I don't know. Anyone else watch Escape From Tomorrow? What was your take on it?

Disney to ignore Escape From Tomorrow

Escape From Tomorrow, the so-called "guerrilla Disney film," was expected to run into a massive legal battle with Disney due to the fact that it was illegally filmed at Disneyworld in Orlando, FL. However, the marketing strategy directer Randy Moore is using doesn't appear to be working as Disney is ignoring the fact that the film even exists.

Instead of pursuing the justified and expected legal battle, the company and its lawyers have decided to basically ignore the film and the policies it breaks. By filming inside the theme park without permission or a permit, they committed trespassing and Fair Use copyright policies. Most people expected Disney to slap a gigantic lawsuit both for unauthorized filming and defamation, but by ignoring this movie entirely it is not just giving Moore and his film a free pass but is most likely dooming it to the underground, indie scene forever. Especially since the reviews from Sundance weren't all that positive.

I saw the trailer last week and I do have to say it looks interesting, but I am not expecting it to be all that good. I have been to Disney parks more times than I can count and have first hand filmed inside the park. The Cast Members let you film but they are always watching. I can only imagine how many times they had to stop and start while making this movie. Editing must have been a disaster.
If you want to try and see Escape From Tomorrow it is supposed to be getting a limited and VOD release in October. It tells the story of a family on vacation in which the father starts going insane while trying to trek through the theme parks. From what I have heard there are things like pedophilia in there, so it's a bit out there.

Now that the trailer has been allowed back on YouTube, you can watch it: