Inspired by the illustrative novel of the same name by Simon Stålenhag, The Electric State sees brothers Anthony and Joe Russo, most famous for directing Marvel behemoths like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the huge MCU finale duo Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, take on his story and bring it to life in their own image.

With a screenplay from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, The Electric State places us in an alternate 1990s, where we exist in a society that’s suffered a sentient uprising of everyday helper robots, but their rebellion failed and this world is now the aftermath. We learn of this setup, in an exposition sense, via fictional news reports, documentaries and such, before focusing in on the story of Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), an orphaned teenager, who is looking for her younger brother (Woody Norman), who she initially assumed had died during it.

She’d thought this because she was there when it happened, but one night – in her adopted home – she’s visited by a robot called Cosmo (voiced by Alan Tudyk), and while bots are illegal in human vicinities, this particular model suggests it’s actually mind-controlled by her young brother, Christopher, and tells Michelle to come find him in a place she must journey to. And so, of course, she sets off into the American west with Cosmo, and also eventually Chris Pratt’s Keats, a man who is trying to survive however he can. Oh, and they’re also being hunted by a (visually) Chappie-like bounty-hunter Marshall Bradbury (Giancarlo Esposito), who is after Cosmo. Basically, we’re off on a road trip into a retro futuristic world that’ll reveal some things might not be what they seem.

There’s an important explanation for how all this is happen, and early on they introduce us to ‘neurocasting’, which is a bit like Meta Quest or those OASIS headsets from Ready Player One, and enables humans to live two lives, one in a fantasy world and one in reality and – as you’d expect – most people choose to live in a dream world, rather than the desolate fallout world. Think of the humans in Wall-E, as many resemble that, but it’s also a comment on hyper-technology use in the world we live in now. Other than this, the most common ‘neurocasting’ appears to be for controlling the population, and other nefarious tendencies, from either the military or Stanley Tucci’s evil corporate/tech-loving Ethan Skate and his desire to manage the remaining world in a more docile state – all fuelled by something to do with his Mother, which is half-heartedly explained later on.

Whilst this takes place, Keats and Michelle – and their accompanying robots, voiced by Anthony Mackie and Alan Tudyk no less – head off to the ‘exclusion zone,’ as they believe they’ll find Michelle’s brother there. When arriving, to a somewhat Dawn of the Dead-style mall, they learn this place has become a home for robots who want to live more normal lives. We also discover the bots aren’t all what we thought they were, and this remaining collection want to live peacefully and beyond the chaos, which isn’t too surprising in a narrative sense.

In fairness, The Electric State has a lot going on, and whether a film that’s just over 2 hours can justify all the ideas is the first big difficulty. While the base-level narrative is intended to be an emotional, family one, we’re never intensely embedded into their lives before things completely change, and so it’s difficult to find something to truly connect to, despite the occasional poignant moment. Millie Bobby Brown is certainly the lead, and commits with honest intentions, but things only really start to get interesting when they find this robot city – and that’s a decent amount of time into proceedings. When there, it’s part Star Wars canteen, with little essences of numerous 80s and 90s robot-starring films you may have seen. However, it’s genuinely fun to look around and see all the characters. If anything, I’d have loved to be in this part of the creation for longer, and when Mr. Peanut (voiced by Woody Harrelson) is showing them around, he’s like the robot John Hammond first introducing Jurassic Park to his guests.

Chris Pratt fundamentally brings back Star-Lord, mixed in with Andy from Parks and Rec, and while I think he plays well to those strengths, there’s not much natural chemistry between him and Brown, which adds to a fundamental disconnection. Stanley Tucci offers equally subtle and strong malicious inclinations and I felt his ‘I don’t care’ approach to his decisions emulate a ‘real-life’ villain, one of those people in high positions of power who feel they can say, or do, anything without consequence. Something horrifically evident in the world today. And, in a genuinely more emotive sense, Ke Huy Quan is the gravitas with a key role – showing his on-screen quality once again.

With very trivial comments on human displacement and equality, along with an obvious ‘border wall’ memo, The Electric State leans on telling a richer story but never comprehensively pushes that (clearly) timely issue. There’s room for a darker, slower tale much like Tales from the Loop (also by Simon Stålenhag)  – even over a series – that may have challenged the actors into somewhere more stimulating, but ultimately most cruise within a formulaic setup. While there are entertaining sequences, plus the odd great one-liner, it’s hard to deny excellent visual ideas, yet its implemented in ways we’ve seen before, despite world building packed with potential.

Overall, this is an uncomplicated but visually exciting experience – with possibly younger teenage audiences in mind – yet despite fun to be had, it feels like a missed opportunity notwithstanding honest intent from those involved.

The Electric State is streaming on Netflix from 14 March