The Electric State (2025) review

The Electric State is Netflix's latest attempt at a blockbuster family movie, and boasting a whopping $320,000,000 budget was expensive even by Netflix's pretty profligate tendencies. With generally negative reviews elsewhere however I must say I wasn't expecting too much going in.

Set in an alternative imagining of the 90s, the film begins with Millie Bobby Brown's teenage orphan Michelle living with her unpleasant foster father after the death of her family in a car crash. Her foster dad, (played by Jason Alexander) along with the majority of the human race, spends most of his time using a headset called a neurocaster, allowing him to split his consciousness between virtual reality and a drone which carries out most day to day activities.

The same technology that allows humans to control said drones was also instrumental in helping them win a war against rebellious robots several years previously. With the remaining robots having been outlawed and imprisoned inside a massive exclusion zone in the desert.

All robots that is except one containing part of the consciousness of her brother who it turns out is in fact still alive. Discovering this Michelle eventually teams up with Chris Pratt's war veteran Keats, alongside his robot sidekick Herman, to infiltrate the headquarters of Sentre, the company responsible for the neurocaster technology, who are holding her brother captive.

Without giving much more away the story unfolds from there as you might expect, and features a bounty hunter played by Giancarlo Esposito, voice acting from Woody Harrelson and Anthony Mackie to name a couple and Stanley Tucci a the CEO of Sentre and main villain.

Chris Pratt and Millie Bobby Brown give solid performances, if the latter doesn't quite scan as a teenage orphan by virtue of looking to be in her mid twenties (She is actually 21).

The pair are somewhat hampered by the dialogue in places however. There is a scene for example where Keats references the fact that there is no food in the exclusion zone, and that they may starve as a result. This is the preface to him going to a diner staffed by a robot waiter whereby the joke is that there isn't actually any food except a twinkie and some baked beans. He eats the twinkie, after which no characters reference the fact that none of them have eaten for several days for the rest of the film.

While there are some fun set pieces and the movie is visually impressive, there is also little emotional connection with the characters for the most part. Keats for example lacks much by way of a character ark, going from begrudgingly helping Michelle to being a bit more positive towards the end of the movie.

For the more technically minded there are several glaring plot holes in the film also. While they don't interfere with the narrative overall I noticed them, so I think they are worth pointing out:

Millie Bobby Brown's orphaned teenager character has flawless hair and makeup in every scene. Several battles with robots, abandoned mine shafts and numerous explosions cant shake her appearance at all.

EMP pulse technology, of a lower grade of difficulty than advanced robotics, would have quickly ended the war between robots and humans which humans were supposedly losing.

Further to this is the fact that the robots, who rebelled due to a lack of rights and imposed servitude, all still appear fairly obsessed with their original purpose. The hair dressing robot wants to cut hair, the waiter stays inside the abandoned diner etc.

A further group not entirely happy with the film are fans of the source material, which was departed from in a fairly big way. I haven't read the book myself so can't comment directly, but it's rarely a good sign when a film diverges from the book.

Lastly the run time comes in at a hefty 128 minutes, which is probably a little on the long side for younger children.

Conclusion

While it has it's flaws The Electric State is a fun family movie without being extremely memorable. For me it came close to capturing the feel of the family movies from the 90s I grew up with, but shaky writing in places and issues with pacing meant it fell slightly short. Older kids and younger teens will enjoy this but it probably won't become a family favourite.