4 Movies with a More Optimistic View of the Future
If you are to believe Hollywood, the future isn’t a pretty place. Films like Oblivion, After Earth and Mad Max: Fury Road all paint a bleak picture of what we have to look forward to. And unfortunately teen films aren’t any better. Who wants to inherit a world like the one in The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner or Divergent where adults manipulate children or kill them off for entertainment purposes?
Thankfully Tomorrowland is a bit of a bright spot on the dismal horizon. Sure, there are robots trying to annihilate people and endless news reports of natural destruction, man-made disasters, riots and war but there are jet packs and the hope for a better world.
That left me wondering what other movies take a more optimistic view of the future. Unfortunately not a lot. But here are a few that have a somewhat hopeful outlook—or at least jet packs.
Jimmy Neutron is an 8-year-old genius with a bedroom full of cool inventions like a push-button bed maker, an automated toothbrush and an automatic hair styling device (sign me up for that one). He also has his transportation to school via his own jet propulsion. The movie is silly and filled with catchy tunes that will take your brain hostage but at least these kids discover that being free of parental supervision isn’t everything it is cracked up to be in Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.
Agent Cody Banks: Destination London isn’t really set in the future but there are a lot of cool gadgets—the kind you’d expect to see in a brave new world. There’s a clarinet that plays itself (no practice required), secret weapons and exploding breath mints (now that’s something to look forward to.)
Jetsons: The Movie is the perfect depiction of what the future looked like in the 1960s. Based on the television series, this story is full of cool cars, space age buildings and a robot maid that meets you at the door. However George, the father in the family, still deals with the kind of teenage daughter problems dads are faced with today.
Of all the space movie franchises, Star Trek may have the most optimistic outlook on the future. There are lots of ugly encounters with aliens trying to take over the galaxy. But the fleet’s mission statement to go “where no man has gone before” suggests a certain spirit of adventure and optimism. The latest reboot of the franchise stars Chris Pine as a young and impetuous Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock.
