Thought this was interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8dUUoAL7PA&t=79s
TLDR: he'd delete the intro and present the entire 1965 sequence as a flashback while Athena's driving Casey to Frank's house
That way, we jump from young Frank to old Frank more quickly, and Clooney's intro as the old, cynical Frank plays as more of a revelation
that would actually play a lot better. Start with Casey sabotaging the NASA demolition.
In addition to what you've said, other positives would be:
It would make what Casey's seeing and experiencing when she touches the pin more mysterious because it would also be new to us viewers. Furthermore, the vision of Tomorrowland itself would be teased and gradually shown, rather than being hit with it right at the beginning.
It would also cut out the one scene they kept of Casey's childhood - one short scene with Judy Greer makes it obvious that there must be a ton of deleted scenes/story with her!
Additionally, maybe this is just a personal one, but I found the sudden change of pace, setting etc after the intro kinda unsettling, like I'd started watching one film then it changed to another one.
It would make what Casey's seeing and experiencing when she touches the pin more mysterious because it would also be new to us viewers. Furthermore, the vision of Tomorrowland itself would be teased and gradually shown, rather than being hit with it right at the beginning.
Additionally, maybe this is just a personal one, but I found the sudden change of pace, setting etc after the intro kinda unsettling, like I'd started watching one film then it changed to another one.
from what I've gathered from the comments in your video link, that opening scene with Casey and Frank narrating was only filmed in post-production or whatever it's called by Disney themselves, the speculation being that it was for the benefit of people who were only watching it for George Clooney - that they wouldn't want to have to wait until half-way through to see him. So they show him right at the beginning instead.
By the same logic, maybe they put the 1964 world's fair part at the beginning too, so that Hugh Laurie fans would get to see him a few minutes in to the film.
Having been convinced that the film was originally supposed to be shown in this order, I've just re-watched again and now I'm unsure. That scene after the "final fight" when Clooney's backpack malfunctions and only goes horizontally is a nice echo of the same thing happening to young Frank Walker at the beginning of the movie.
The "intro" is also only revealed to be the speech they're giving to the new recruiters in the very final scene, which would suggest it was designed that way....but maybe the original ending was different and they re-shot it?
But, as the guy in your video link says, the way Clooney's introduced when Casey's at his door, it's like he's being gradually revealed, as if it's his first appearance in the film, which doesn't make sense because, with the intro, the viewer already knows the appearance and personality of the adult Frank Walker.
And I would add that, in a similar fashion, the scene when Casey's on the motorbike and uses the drones and breaks into NASA before finally taking her helmet off, feels like it was supposed to be "teenage" Casey's first appearance.
Each viewing just raises more questions!
I agree 100% that, in the final version, Frank at the beginning dovetails nicely with the ending, as he and Casey brief their new audio-animatronic recruiters.
However, the final briefing still makes sense, logically and dramatically, without the intro. We go from Frank and Casey wondering “what next,” to hearing Casey’s narration (which, in the original version, would be the first time we hear any narration), then we see who Casey’s narrating to (the new recruiters). It still works without the intro, in other words.
The motorbike helmet reveal, though, that NEVER occurred to me until you pointed it out. Now I can’t un-see it. I think it’s absolutely supposed to be our first view of Britt Robertson as Casey, ESPECIALLY coming right after we see the much younger Casey with Judy Greer as her mother.
In fact, it almost seems like an intentional parallel: we segue directly from the idealistic child Casey to the tough biker chick Casey, then later we segue from the idealistic child Frank to the cranky adult Frank.
It works even better, now that you point out that little reveal.
Fun fact, that scene with young idealistic child Casey was originally supposed to be shown much later on in proceedings, on the drive from Houston to Pittsfield - Athena shows it to her - she found it online because Casey's parents uploaded the video.
Casey then asks Athena if she's been tracking her all her life - I'm not sure if this was filmed, but it doesn't look like they changed the lines afterwards. It makes a lot more sense now when he hear Athena say "I only found you a month ago.....", especially the fact that she seems to empathise the word "only".
I need to read the screenplay of this!
my understanding now is that the entire movie was supposed to be chronological. As in, it was supposed to start with young Frank Walker at the farm trying to get the jetpack to work. Those scenes were originally a lot longer (they only appear as a couple of 30 second flashbacks in the final cut) - Chris Bauer, playing Frank's dad, is criminally underused here!
Then it was supposed to go to the Worlds Fair/Tomorrowland 1964 scenes, then to modern day Casey on the bike, and you know the rest.
However, when viewing, the makers felt the scenes on the farm weren't strong enough to begin the movie with - maybe they weren't happy with "young Frank"'s performance, or maybe it just wasn't gripping enough. Actually, it's only coming to me as I type this, but there's deleted scenes with Casey's extended family staying with them (Lochlyn Munro playing her uncle), like they were going for a Spielberg/Amblin vibe, which the original opening would have tied in with. So, getting rid of these 'extended family' scenes, they wanted to go in a different direction, which is maybe also why the intro was changed.
Basically, they felt it "needed something" to grip the viewer's attention from the beginning. I'm not sure that even the makers were overly enamoured with the messy intro they got, but they were pushed for time and anything was better with going in the chronological order they'd originally planned, plus they also wanted both Frank AND Casey to be in the first scene.
that, for me, is the problem - they were treating Casey and Frank as dual protagonists, when, for me, Casey is the main character - think how much more screen time she has, and the story is predominantly told from her side - in fact, if the "fix" the OP mentions is applied, the entire thing is from her point of view only.
Anyway, long story short, the first appearances of Casey and adult Frank were originally supposed to be the ones we only see well into the story, and the "is this thing on..." intro was added in post production. But not because it was originally supposed to be shown in the OP's "fixed" way, which for me is still the best option and how I view the movie now. If I knew anything about it, I'd make a 'fan edit' that way, maybe throwing some of the deleted scenes in there too. But not the 'extended family' ones, because they kinda sucked