I want to start off with the fact that I’m not entirely sure why critics hate this movie so much…. Was it the best movie I’ve ever seen? No. Does it deserve the staggering 14% on Rotten Tomatoes? I also highly disagree with that rating. It was WAY more enjoyable than Picture This (2025), which is a new romantic comedy release on Amazon.  But again, it isn’t the worst or the best I’ve seen, but I don’t necessarily consider it meh either.

This movie is based off of the 2018 graphic novel with the same name by Simon Stålenhag. What makes me decide what I think a good movie is comes down to only a few things: the characters; the plot (including any plot holes); and the BIGGEST one, whether or not it was actually entertaining.

As far as the characters go, I honestly really loved Millie Bobby Brown in this movie (and most of the things she’s done if I’m going to be completely transparent here). Chris Pratt, too (but I also really like him as an actor 😂). I thought Millie Bobby Brown’s character, Michelle was such a great lead and had a lot of depth. As for Chris Pratt’s character, I felt like he could have had a little more depth to him rather than just being the comic relief for the movie. The other problem that I had with another character was Stanley Tucci’s character, Ethan Skate (our main villain). There was literally no reason or background besides the alcoholic mother that made him so evil. Like, to do what he did? Wow. I can’t even imagine. Power and riches, I guess? But that always feels like a copout to me when writers use that as the villain’s main arc. Michelle’s brother, though, Christopher (Woody Norman) was amazing in every scene he had. I don’t know what it was about him, but when I was watching the movie, 

With the plot, it honestly had a lot going on. There were several moments where I found myself confused and quite a few more where I wish the writers could have developed the robots a little more to make me actually care what happened to them. Most of the time, I didn’t resonate with the robots at all and it made me feel like a huge point for the movie was just… missing. Not only that, but the amount of exposition in the beginning is absolutely insane and felt like an overload. Not only that, but I did notice one huge hole that kind of left me disappointed towards the end (I’ll mention this again at the spoilers). 

As far as actual entertainment, I didn’t find my mind wandering or even thinking about the load of laundry that needed to be moved to the dryer. I genuinely felt immersed in this movie and wanted to continue it for the whole two-hour span (but technically less because there was literally FIFTEEN MINUTES of credits). I think what made this entertaining had a lot to do with the great acting and the emotions it pulled from me. The biggest attraction for me when it comes to movies or books is something that can make me feel deeply for the characters and their specific situations. For Michelle? There were moments I almost cried (almost). That’s what lets me know more than anything that a movie did something right. 

Spoilers ahead.

Alright, so back to that plot hole. There was a moment when Dr. Amherst (Ke Huy Quan) said that Christopher woke up. Why then, WHY, did Michelle have to kill him at the end???? Like, in all honesty here, I was quite disgusted with the way that these people treated Christopher. They used him as a vessel, a means to an end, but never once considered him as a human boy. A boy, who I might add, has never gotten to live in the first place. Someone please explain it to me because that broke my heart. That whole situation with Dr. Ethan Stake using Christopher like that just reminded me of Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi and a very similar situation in that novel (you’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve read the series). Both of these scenarios made me sick to my stomach. I wanted Christopher to live SO freaking badly. Like, justice for Christopher please. 

I do like the tiny detail of Michelle always saying Christopher was going to change the world, and then he turns around before he dies to say that she was always the one meant to do it. I thought that was a tiny, but pretty great, detail. 

Overall, this movie is NOT as bad as critics make it out to be. I genuinely enjoyed it despite the big plot hole I spotted and the less-than developed characters that we had. All-in-all, it was enjoyable, entertaining, and not the worst way to spend my Sunday morning. 

Where to Watch: Netflix