![]() The movie, while careful to leave out certain copyrighted material (like the “It’s a Small World” song), would seem to test the limits of fair use in copyright law. It’s not the Happiest Place on Earth in his movie. If that wasn’t gutsy enough, his film is a horror fantasy that harshly critiques Disney’s style of mass entertainment. Moore, without permission from Disney, filmed “Escape From Tomorrow” inside its theme parks and hotels in Florida and California. Moore?Ī betting person would put some chips on anger after his movie’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival here over the weekend. I wanted more David Lynch and less Chevy Chase.PARK CITY, Utah - Is Randy Moore’s new movie about a father going insane at Walt Disney World simply cinematic art? Or is Mickey Mouse about to get very, very mad at Mr. Many in Park City compared Escape From Tomorrow to a darker version of the Griswold’s trip to Wally World in National Lampoon’s Vacation and the comparison feels apt but also is one of the film’s biggest problems. ![]() It doesn’t help that Abramsohn often makes the broad comedy decision as an actor when a more realistic one would have been more effective. Jim runs after the two French girls too many times for the joke to work and the movie feels long when it needed to be streamlined to be effective. The jokes wear thin and one gets the impression that every first-take minute of film that was shot was included. It could have worked at 80 minutes but the film really sags at over 100. ![]() I can’t shake the feeling that Escape From Tomorrow might have been the best 20-minute short film ever made. However, originality only gets you so far. And the fact that Moore saw that and figured out a fun way to turn it into filmmaking gets Escape major points in my book. The non-stop music, the oppressive happiness of the place, and the masses of coughing, pushing tourists give the place a surreal quality long before any screenwriting begins. Anyone who has spent even a small amount of time at Disney World can see the inherent potential in using the location as a setting for a descent into madness. Many have questioned whether or not Escape could ever be released in theaters given that the filmmakers never got approval from Disney and use the company’s iconography in disturbing ways (even suggesting at one point that the women who dress up like Disney princesses also serve as courtesans for Asian businessmen willing to pay a hefty price to sleep with Cinderella). Moore and his small cast actually filmed Escape From Tomorrow at Orlando’s Disney World and Epcot Center and the guerrilla-style approach is the film’s greatest charm. Jim’s descent into madness Disney-style starts innocently enough with a few demonic faces looking back at him from the overly cheery rides of Orlando and a slight obsession with following two young French girls (Danielle Safady, Annet Mahendru) around the park (even if that means taking young Elliot on Space Mountain to get another look at the pair) but before Jim hits rock bottom he will see a side of family paradise that most could never, to use a word that plays incessantly in one of the park’s many songs, “imaginate.” He’s unemployed and on edge, not exactly the best way to be at a place that shoves happiness down your throat. ![]() That morning, Jim’s boss calls him and lets him go. The film opens on the last day of a trip to Disney World with his family – wife Emily (Elena Schuber), daughter Sara (Katelynn Rodriguez), and son Elliot (Jack Dalton). Jim (Roy Abramsohn) seems like a pretty average family man. ![]()
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