Part of the conflict between Dan and his father in "The Tomorrow War" stems from the former never being able to live up to the expectations of his larger-than-life patriarch. In a unique way, that estranged relationship is among the more carefully layered similarities to "It's a Wonderful Life." Other nods to the film, Pratt noted, are more visible. "There is a nod to 'It's a Wonderful Life' at the beginning of this film, even with him doing this 'Hee-haw' [gesture]. That moment was lifted from 'It's a Wonderful Life,'" Pratt revealed. "Thematically, we have some similarities there. [Dan] is a guy — granted he's not standing on a bridge about to kill himself — but he's not happy with his station in life through the course of the events in his life. And he's got, of course, this relationship with his dad that he's estranged from and he's blaming his father for all of his issues, and his dad wasn't around, etc."
Complicating matters is that Dan and his wife, Emmy (Betty Gilpin) are the parents of a young daughter, and Dan fears that his good relationship with the child will devolve into the same situation that forced a wedge into his shattered relationship with his dad.
