The Electric State Review - Filled With Enough Powerful Voltage To Shock You!

   

Thank you to Netflix for providing an early screening to make this review possible.

The Russo brothers return with yet another blockbuster, Sci-fi CGI epic on Netflix, called “The Electric State”. The film is set in an altered version of the 90's of post apocalyptic America after a robot uprising. We follow Millie Bobby Brown's character, 'Michelle', an orphaned teenager, who sets off on an expedition with a cartoon inspired robot, Cosmo, (Voiced by Devyn Dalton), to find her long lost brother, Christopher.

The film is an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name, by Simon Stålenhag, which showcases peculiarly drawn animatronics during a robot war.  

For the technicalities of the film, the new movie sticks true to the art of the graphic novel and nails it to perfection. The Electric State has many identical graphics and animations of robots that are sourced from the original book, which pays homage to the Swedish author. This is further supported with the excellent use of CGI that helps bring this world fully to life and made these robots feel as authentic as they can be.

The relationship between Michelle and her metallic companion, "Cosmo"  is the driving force of this film. It highlights the need for connection in a decrepit world everyone is living in. The bond that they build is something special and showcases how in this society ravaged by robots there can be a form of consensus between them and humans despite the chaos that may ensue.

Millie Bobby Brown and Cosmo in
The Electric State (Netflix)

As Michelle and Cosmo continue their adventure towards the exclusion zone,  they come across Keats, played by Chris Pratt, who also has a robot friend, called Herman (voiced by Anthony Mackie). Pratt is no foreigner to the Action Sci-fi genre having worked previously with the Russos on the recent Avengers films and brings the comedy to this film, but it's his chemistry with Herman that delivers belly full of laughs throughout the course of the film complimenting the tense moments. With the constant arguments and witty herman humour, he knows how to deliver the comedic punch timed and written well. 

The shared interest in robots by both Michelle and Keats builds this friendship between them and he helps Michelle on her quest to find Christopher. Despite there being a bond building between the two I feel the writing of these paired characters doesn't strengthen it as much as it could. It feels that there could be a sense for a father-daughter connection between Michelle and Keats that could fill in some emotional beats with Michelle being an orphan, but it doesn't provide that instead the relationship stays quite dry.

The Electric State (Netflix)

There is also a strong supporting cast that helps drive this narrative with  Woody Harrelson (Mr Peanut) and Jenny Slate (Penny Pal) who have terrific vocal performances. They're both a great duo where Penny Pal is helpful and hilarious and Mr Peanut is a respectable figure who is also a badass in this world and is easily one of the most pivotal characters for our lead's journey to find her brother. The action sequences with Mr Peanut are epic and frenetic that helps elevate the film delivering many crowd pleasing moments. The two characters are also very well animated that adds humanistic aspects to them.  Voice acting is difficult industry to break into, but they showed they had the potential and ultimately individually perfected it. Ke Huy Quan's character Dr Amherst is introduced later towards the film and does play a key part to the story. However, he isn't very well written and feels as though he was inserted in without much thought. Despite, his role being described as important it wasn't justified enough in the film.

The final act brought many mixed feelings and served as complimentary to what was building throughout the film. As our lead Michelle finally finds her brother, Christopher, a difficult choice is to be made that brings many of the emotional beats into play that will question and tear up many audience members. The importance of these final moments are significant and allows for our character to finally find the closure that she's looking for. 

The Electric State (Netflix)

This film however, was more poignant than many expected it to be. It tests trust and challenges decisions to be made. However, I feel that there could have been more focus on the journey and relationship between Michelle and Christopher and more scenes showcasing the bond they had as siblings. Although emotional scenes were served, the connections we were we made to feel felt forced not fully allowing us to resonate with what Milly Bobby Brown's character is feeling. This is where character writing would need to come into play as many emotional beats in the film could be further developed if given more care. 

Overall, the Russo Brothers do deliver an entertaining Sci-Fi adventure that audiences can appreciate. With acting powerhouses Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt bringing their creative prowess as well as the incredible array of voice acting talent with Anthony Mackie stealing the show as well as deliciously animated animatronics that have the look and feel of early animated films such as Meet the Robinson's and Robots. At points the film does stray away from the original storyline of the graphic novel but does do it justice with it's visual splendour and picture perfect recreations of the characters. Ultimately, the film provides enough laughs, action and emotional beats with a sensational score to match, even if it does echo previous Marvel projects it makes it a pleasing watch.

“The Electric State” Releases March 14th on Netflix