Randy Moore's Escape from Tomorrow is one of the only films of 2013 that took true courage to make. I don't just mean the courage of conviction or the courage to take a gamble at the box office. No, Escape from Tomorrow was courageous for how it was made. The film, a Lynchian nightmare about a father slowly losing his mind during a family trip to the Walt Disney World Resort, was shot on-location at Disney World and Disneyland guerilla-style with no permission from The Walt Disney Company. The film paints a less than flattering portrait of Disney: the princesses are prostitutes for rich Asian businessmen, the park is contaminated with a dangerous disease that literally turns people into cats, and everything is run by Orwellian overlords capable of brainwashing visitors with a single touch. Ultimately, The Walt Disney Company chose not to take legal action against Moore despite the film's blatant violations of copyright and its highly libelous message. Perhaps they wanted to avoid the PR nightmare of the Streisand effect. But despite the lack of legal action, Moore's audacity in making Escape from Tomorrow isn't diminished. The film isn't entirely perfect. There were times when Moore had to use green-screens matched with stock footage of the parks so he could compose certain complex shots. They aren't frequent, but they are nonetheless noticeable and jarring. One shot where the father lifts his violently ill son to vomit into a trash can is particularly obvious. But the film's faults can be easily ignored or forgiven in the face of its boldness and bravery.
8/10
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