The 2025 fantasy film The Electric State boils down to Walt Disney and robots in a shopping mall. A mixture of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, sans all that over the top violence, and The Hall of Presidents. There is even a touch of Avengers: Endgame and heaven help us, Ready Player One.
A revisionists history of the world.
The Electric State is revised history, a’ la Fallout with another Brit, Millie Bobby Brown taking the place of Ella Purnell. In this world, Walt Disney did not stop with good old animatronic robotics to sell his new theme park. Oh no, he went on to pioneer a robotics industry that would eventually disrupt the world.
The humans defeat the robots, all of them; including a thinly veiled Abe Lincoln in the form of Mr Peanut. *Woody Harrelson voices the “robotarian” spokesman with shades of the late great Jimmy Stewart. The youngsters in the audience need go no further than An American tale: Fievel Goes West and listen to the Oscar winning actors soothing tones. “Oh no. Another talking tumbling weed…”*
The story
Michelle loses her entire family to a road accident before the robot wars. She has been place in various foster homes and is very unhappy with her life. One day, a Cosmo robot (A clanger based upon a kids TV show.) appears in her bedroom.
She fixes the thing’s communicator and learns that “there is trouble on the moon.” Michelle also finds out that the robot is “channelling” her dead brother Christopher.
The two embark on a Wizard of Oz type quest where a trucker retail thief named Keats who, along with his robot sidekick Herman, lends a hand.
Did we mention that all robots are outlawed?
Hi-jinks ensue.
The Cast
Chris Pratt is Keats.
Millie Bobby Brown is Michelle.
Giancarlo Esposito is “The Butcher.”
Woody Harrelson is Mr Peanut.
Ke Huy Quan is Dr Amherst.
Woody Norman is Christopher.
Alan Tudyk is the voice of Cosmo.
Stanley Tucci is Ethan Skate.
Anthony Mackie is Herm, aka; Herman.
Brian Cox is Pop Fly.
Behind the camera
The Electric State is brought to you by the Russo Bros. This may explain why the Avengers “feels” thing is going on. In the big scenes, where the robots wars are featured in “the past” and the present, epic battles; the Russo stamp is there. Loud and proud.
The VFX in The Electric State rocks. Between the animation and the motion capture crews putting their all into those robotic antics and interactions, this one is practically seamless.
In front of the camera
Let us start by saying that Stanley Tucci still “gives good bad guy.” However, he is not alone. All the major players, pun intended, knock this one out of the park. Pratt continues to do what he does best, proving that his “Star Lord” was not a hiccup.
Brown can still pull off that woman/child transformation. It will be a sad day when she can no longer convince audiences that she is a 14 year old kiddo. Quan rocks no matter the part and Harrelson, who; like Quan, seems to be in everything right now, also effortlessly convinces.
Kudos to Esposito. He rises above the cartoonish plot to really impress here.
problem
The Electric State is a good film. It is fun, with its specific old timey dystopian feel, but the very idea of failure is not part of the movie’s gameplan. We know, however badly things go for the good guys, that Michelle must and will get her brother back.
the verdict
The Electric State, despite feeling like a dystopic Dorothy and her little gang from Oz, earns a solid 4.5 stars. Russo’s and company have managed to make a children’s fantasy film watchable and while we did not break into schmaltzy tears at the mall sequence, we did come close.
The film is on Netflix at the moment.
The trailer
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