By Joseph McAleer

Against all expectations, Walt Disney took a theme park ride, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and turned it into a blockbuster film franchise.

Now the studio has similar hopes for an entire theme park area in “Tomorrowland.”

The result? Disney has done it again. “Tomorrowland” is a delightful science-fiction film and great fun for the entire family.

Directed by Brad Bird (“The Incredibles”), who co-wrote the screenplay with Damon Lindelof (TV’s “Lost”), “Tomorrowland” is bursting with optimism and enthusiasm. Its hopeful view of the future is a refreshing contrast to the depressing dystopian vision that has dominated Hollywood films of late.

The film borrows the name but little else from the futuristic-themed section of the Disney parks. Instead, there’s a recreation of the 1964 World’s Fair in New York, a showcase of future ideas and innovations.

There Disney created the “It’s a Small World” ride to promote global harmony. In the film, it serves as the gateway to the utopia that exists in another dimension.

Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, a whiz-kid boy inventor, Frank (Thomas Robinson), takes a detour on the ride into Tomorrowland. He’s lured there by Athena (Raffey Cassidy). Her mission is to recruit the best and brightest on Earth to learn from a place of peace and promise.

Fast-forward 40 years, and Earth is fraught with problems, including war and natural disasters. The future is far from bright.

Casey (Britt Robertson) is frustrated by all the gloom and doom. She is a dreamer, inspired by her father, Eddie (Tim McGraw), a NASA engineer.

Before you can say “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,” Athena reappears, looking none the worse for wear. She is actually a sophisticated (and ageless) robot. She recruits Casey to save Tomorrowland. The city has fallen under the spell of a bureaucrat called Nix (Hugh Laurie), who is wreaking havoc on Earth.

With Athena in tow, Casey looks up Frank, who has aged into George Clooney. Twenty years ago, Frank was banished from Tomorrowland for threatening to expose the conspiracy.

“Tomorrowland” morphs into a buddy movie as man, girl and robot race against time to literally save the future. The film contains cartoonish, but bloodless action sequences, and a few mild oaths.

The Catholic News Service classification is A-II – adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG – parental guidance suggested.

‘San Andreas’

“Shake, Rattle, and Roll” would be the ideal theme song for “San Andreas” (Warner Bros.), an eye-popping, ear-splitting 3-D chronicle of a California earthquake.

Yes, it’s time for the “big one” – make that big ones – to strike the Golden State, in this update of the star-studded disaster films that Hollywood churned out in the 1970s (including 1974’s “Earthquake”).

Now it’s director Brad Peyton’s (“Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore”) turn to oversee the wholesale destruction of the West Coast, when the eponymous tectonic fault line splits wide open.

The result, meticulously rendered in computer-generated imagery, or CGI, is often thrilling, sometimes silly and frequently preposterous.

Science takes center stage in “San Andreas.” Lawrence (Paul Giamatti), a seismology professor, has invented a detection system which he believes can predict an earthquake.

His system is put to the test in Nevada, where a previously unknown fault line is discovered. In the blink of an eye, the earth moves, and the Hoover Dam bursts, one of the film’s many spectacular disaster sequences.

Turns out Nevada has a connection to the San Andreas Fault. With the help of Serena (Archie Panjabi), a dishy television reporter, Lawrence sounds the alarm from Los Angeles to San Francisco for everyone to “drop, cover and hold on.”

“The earth will literally crack and you will feel it on the East Coast,” he warns.

But first, some domestic drama. Ray (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), a helicopter rescue pilot with the Los Angeles Fire Department, is suffering from empty-nest syndrome. His marriage to Emma (Carla Gugino) has failed. Their daughter, Blake (Alexandra Daddario), is leaving for college in San Francisco.

Ray has little time to fret when the first of several earthquakes strike (a “seismic swarm”), starting in the City of Angels and moving up the coast, toppling everything in its path.

Enter the action hero. Ray pilots his helicopter to rescue Emma, and together they go to find their daughter.

In the meantime, Blake maneuvers through the ruins of the City by the Bay with the help of two brothers visiting from England, Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) and Ollie (Art Parkinson), all the while watching the sky for Daddy’s chopper.

An epic of destruction and catastrophe, “San Andreas” is not for the young or faint of heart. The film contains relentless, intense but mostly bloodless disaster-related violence, and occasional crude language.

The Catholic News Service classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned.

McAleer is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service.