Man, I really feel bad for the Dinotopia guys. They built this whole intricate, creative, enrapturing world, and it was going to be the next big thing. It was gonna be the next franchise. They got George Fucking LUCAS to make a screen adaptation of it. Yeah, the starwars guy. Then midway through production he realizes how much he loves making movies and decides to ditch your project and make the prequels instead. They say there's no bad blood but... man it would fucking kill me to go to the theater and see Naboo and think "Fuck, that coulda been waterfall city"
There still was a franchise. They did eventually make spinoff paperback novels and video games and there were even a couple screen adaptations, but they were done by Lifetime and Hallmark. The lifetime one is actually surprisingly good given its budget. It tells a story that mirrors the structure of the original picture book, two brothers get marooned on Dinotopia, one of them rides a pterosaur and then they have to stop a dude named Krab from stealing a crystal that he needs to make an ancient machine get him off the island... but it's not a reboot or anything, it's the same continuity as the books. I guess guys named Krab really do be stealing crystals every generation or so. It's not really that bad of a series but damn it could have been George Lucas!
I dunno, I just find myself thinking about it. It was a uniquely artistic and non-violent series for its time. All of the dinosaurs and people live in harmony. There used to be a steampunk cyber empire of capitalists who tried to replace dinosaurs with the coolest looking robots you could imagine, but then there was a revolution and they all live in communistic harmony with no real currency. Each according to their need, each to their own ability. All that Jazz.
I'm certainly more normal about it than I am say The Underland Chronicles but I still find myself thinking about those gorgeous communist dinosaur picture books. In another reality, Battleborn won over Overwatch, Galidor never got its budget cut and was actually a smash success, Warner bros actually did something with the TUC film rights, and Kids in the 00s grew up with Dinotopia instead of the Starwars prequels.
it’s been over three weeks since the electric state came out and i’m still tweaking over the fact michelle’s girlfriend wasn’t in the film 💔💔
my little lesbian i love her 👩❤️💋👩👩❤️💋👩👩❤️💋👩
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Very glad to see people who also see the vision
Was it just me, or did Cassian and Mon Mothma have... good chemistry?
Can you tell I don't like the trailer
Now imagine how us fans of the book feel :'(
Anything but electric
The Russo Brothers have made a career out of injecting rare smarts and soul into big studio films. While perhaps best known for master-minding the high point of the MCU in Infinity War, they also produced the weird and wonderful Everything Everywhere All at Once. That means that their latest film, based on Simon Stålenhag’s graphic novel, arrives with a fair bit of expectation.
For the most part, The Electric State fails to meet them. Set in a technologically dependant version of 1990s America, we open with a rushed news montage that breezes through a multitude of key information in about 5 minutes. After a war that pit humans against their friendly robot aides, a fragile peace treaty has separated the illegal ‘bots’ into an ‘X’ zone behind a massive wall (If that feels like an on-the-nose reference to current political events, just wait till you’ve seen the rest of the film).
At the heart of this story is Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown), a teenage orphan whose brother (Woody Harmon) died in mysterious circumstances. But when a robot based on their favourite cartoon - Kid Cosmo - appears to share his living consciousness, Michelle joins him on a quest to find answers.
On the surface, this journey has all the elements of an engaging sci-fi adventure. As Michelle joins her new companion to the robot-infested desert, there’s plenty of WALL.E level cuteness at play (the leader of the robots is a stately Peanut voiced by Woody Harrelson). There’s also a thoughtful plot about our attachment to technology, and an emotional story of brother-sister reconciliation to tie it all in together. Stanley Tucci even stars as a soft-spoken tech billionaire with questionable intentions - think Elon Musk but more (italics) evil.
In reality, it doesn’t quite come together. For a film about a shady conspiracy, what stands out most is the lack of surprises. Everything in this film feels obvious and over-polished, from the predictable one liners - ‘not in my house!’, quips a robot sidekick - to the rather staid action sequences. Fittingly for a film about sentient robots, it feels like the script - adapted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely -has been engineered by AI.
This also comes down to the casting. Chris Pratt, while occasionally funny as a loveable rogue that Michelle meets on her journey, is essentially just playing another version of Starlord - complete with a small, fast-talking sidekick. Giancarlo Esposito plays another ruthless villain, this time a robot hunter nicknamed ‘The Butcher’, who gets a laughably formulaic story arc in the final act. Ke Huy Quan makes a charming cameo as a doctor but essentially exists to spout exposition. And while Bobby Brown does get some emotional flash back scenes with her brother, she’s underserved by an otherwise bland teenage rebel role.
It’s a shame, because there are some good ideas here. The Russo Brothers have crafted a beautifully realised world, and there’s some striking character design amid the human on robot carnage. However, it all ends up feeling a bit derivative, with ideas that were seen before in Ready Player One, and recently The Creator. Unlike those films, this does little to inspire the imagination.
Despite a star-studded cast and the best of intentions, this robotic sci-fi adventure ends up on the scrap heap of sci-fi cinema.
★★
Simon's name doesn't even show up in the trailer 😭
It's so over...
Sigh. Is nothing sacred.
Tales from the Loop was amazing but this is the kind of thing that I don't think lends itself to a film adaptation. Especially not with Crisp Rat, especially especially not one with Crisp Rat directed by the Russos. Tonal change from the book is inevitable I fear.
Trust me I'm getting tired of this too but...
This is Micah Mayfield, a guntuber who recently released a video in which he made a "joke" about having a trans person in his gun sights....
And oh man would you look at that? Its Grand Thumb! The man who Brandon Buckingham who will make fun of you for thinking that they are terrible people or not! These are all people Wendigoon are comfortable being around. Let's see how Garand Thumb is taking the criticism?
Ah! I see! Surely a great person to be friends with!
I love this shit
Love the puns from Pun Hub