'THE ELECTRIC STATE'.....YET AGAIN, NETFLIX ALGORITHMS CAN'T FIND RHYTHM.....

 The Electric State (Netflix 2025)

       Oh God help us......not another one.

       Once again, Netflix pours millions upon millions of dollars into a stitched together Frankenstein of a movie that exhaustively tries to duplicate an action-sci-fi behemoth blockbuster from the 1990's. 

         .....or as close to it as the Netflix computer algorithms can get.

         We dread even explaining the laborious details of this thing.....cutesy robots, a plucky teen heroine, a smart-ass, wisecracking rogue, a slimy corporate villain, chases, battles, goofball comedy relief robots.....yada, yada, yada....

           And Mr. Peanut. 

            Yes, the Mr. Peanut. We beg you not to ask us to explain what he's doing in this movie......just thinking about it will make us slip into a coma. 

           In a daring act of valor on our part, we'll now attempt to break the movie down for you with as little verbiage as possible.....

           Robots revolted. Humans beat them, exiled robots into a prison zone where they live in an abandoned mall. Villain (Stanley Tucci) invents headgear that lets people channel their physical tasks through subservient robots. So we humans are now rendered barely mobile couch potatoes.

          Plucky teen (resident Netflix starlet Millie Bobby Brown) meets cutesy robot who's chaneling the little bro she thought she lost in a car crash.

          Like Kansas's Dorothy, Plucky Teen and little robo-bro hit the road to find out what became of the flesh and blood robo-bro. Along the way, they pick up wisecracking rogue, (Chris Pratt) Mr. Peanut and assorted robot friends. Slimeball villain deploys armies of menacing robos to thwart them. 

           Goodness triumphs, but not without bittersweet cost. Credits roll, with the usual roster of 18 special effects companies and their hordes of CGI artists....The End. Netflix asks if you like it, love it, or hate it.....regardless, the list of Netflix's 'Electric State' clones appears for you to peruse. 

            We'll stop now, cause we feel that coma coming on.

             We're well aware of the irony here.....reviewing a movie about robots that feels like it was assembled by the A.I. 'Entity' that torments Tom Cruise in his latest Mission Impossible film. (see yesterday's review....)

            We don't doubt kids will love this....and maybe grown-ups nostalgic for all of those Spielberg-ian crowd pleasers that ruled the 1980's.

            (Another ironical watch would be double-featuring this with Spielberg (and Kubrick's) "A.I.Artificial Intelligence", the little robo-boy movie weighed down with Kubrick's distanced, sardonic worldview.) 

            As for "The Electric State"....3 stars (***) for kids, 1 star (*) for those of us who wish Netflix would spew out its millions to start making movies not dictated by its soul-deadening, inhuman algorithms. You know......real movies.