In "The Electric State," directors Anthony and Joe Russo are looking for a little of that old Amblin Entertainment magic — the winning combination of innocence, adventure and wonder that powered movies like "E.T." and the "Back to the Future" films — but their connection is strictly offline.

The movie plays like a cross between "Transformers" and "Ready Player One," with dashes of a handful of other movies — "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence," "Batteries Not Included," "Five Nights at Freddy's" — thrown in for good measure. But it doesn't add up to much beyond a scrapheap of other, better movies, a case where the memories it conjures are more lasting than any new ones it will create.

Adapted from a 2018 graphic novel, "The Electric State" unfolds in an alternate timeline, where a 1990 war was waged against robots, after they grew tired of doing human bidding and fought for their own rights and freedoms. That didn't turn out too hot for the bots, who were outlawed and banished to a remote section of the American Southwest. (In an audio newsreel, we're told Kid Rock threw a party in Detroit after the bots' defeat, which sounds perfectly on-brand.)

Four years later, humans spend much of their time wired into elongated VR headsets called "neurocasters" which allow them to simultaneously work and play, putting their droid avatars to work while their human counterparts engage in simulated fantasy fulfillment from the comfort and safety of their couches. The modern-day metaphor, as it becomes clear, points to people endlessly scrolling on their phones while the world passes them by.

In this reality, Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) is an orphaned teen whose parents and little brother, Christopher (Woody Norman), died in a car crash. But the spirit of her brother reappears in a robot who visits her, and she suspects her brother may be alive and powering the bot, which is fashioned after their favorite cartoon character, Cosmo.

So she sets out to find the real Christopher with the help of Keats (Chris Pratt), a scavenger and reseller of nostalgic pop culture ephemera (think 8-bit Nintendo systems and vintage lunchboxes) who is like a copy of a copy of a copy of Han Solo. He's also got a robot sidekick, Herman (voiced by Anthony Mackie), so there are plenty of opportunities for bickering between the various parties.

Michelle and Keats don't get along with one another but are forced into a strained partnership, as is required by screenwriting law in stories like these. What's chiefly missing from their interactions is any sense of the humanity that drives them, a running problem for "The Electric State": whether they're fueled by blood or circuitry, the movie's characters come across flat and one-dimensional.

Eventually Michelle and Keats arrive in the land of the bots, where the leader is Mr. Peanut (voiced by Woody Harrelson). Why Mr. Peanut? In his 100-plus year history as the face of Planters, has Mr. Peanut ever displayed any leadership or revolutionary qualities? No, but the monocle-wearing mascot probably tested well with audiences in the recognizability and nostalgia fields, so Mr. Peanut is now cast as a hero.

That sense of comfort and familiarity with preexisting properties is the chief engine powering "The Electric State," which constantly serves to remind us of other movies, shows and things from our past. The bots are built to look like memories from our childhoods, from a friendly postal carrier to an old-timey baseball mascot. Are we actually remembering them, or do we just think we are?

In one of his only revealing character moments, Keats delivers a drooling monologue about the deliciousness of Panda Express. And any time there's a down moment in the action, a massive hit is pumped over the soundtrack, from "Mary Jane's Last Dance" to "Don't Stop Believin'" to Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch's "Good Vibrations." It's all designed to lull viewers into a sense of complacency, like those neurocasters strapped to its characters' heads.

But you come away with approximations of feelings rather than any genuine affection for the characters or the story being told. Hey, maybe Mr. Peanut really is a noble guy. And Marky Mark wasn't all that bad!

Stanley Tucci plays a Steve Jobs-like tech villain, who's at half-speed spewing dastardly lines about humans and tech. Giancarlo Esposito is a secondary villain hanging around the edges of the script (by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who teamed with the Russos on several "Avengers" titles), just as he was in "Captain America: Brave New World." And Ke Huy Quan shows up late in the movie to aid the heroes. The overstacked cast also features Alan Tudyk, Colman Domingo, Hank Azaria, Brian Cox and Jenny Slate in voice roles, and Jason Alexander as Michelle's deadbeat foster father.

The visuals in "The Electric State," especially when it comes to the robots, are impressive, and it's unfortunate they're restricted to the confines of Netflix-connected televisions. This is a movie of notable size and scope that would benefit from the big screen treatment, where its sense of scale can be appreciated. (As for Pratt's haircut for most of the film, the smaller it's rendered, the better.)

But its visuals can't overcompensate for its distinct lack of soul. From its script to its characters to its performances — Millie Bobby Brown, especially, seems incapable of displaying any internal motivation for her character — "The Electric State" has no charge, nothing powering it from within. Its lights are on, but no one's home.

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'THE ELECTRIC STATE'

Grade: C-

MPA rating: PG-13 (for sci-fi violence/action, language and some thematic material)

Running time: 2:08

How to watch: On Netflix March 14

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