A waste of time in any time period.
“A Bug’s Life,” Finding Nemo,” “Wall*E,” and “Finding Dory” are all animated features made by Andrew Stanton, and all of them are delightful, colorful, and imaginative. But “John Carter” and now, “In the Blink of an Eye” are both live action features made by him, and none of them have any imagination. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen “John Carter,” but this one is confused and soapy, and tries to go for that obvious “2001: A Space Odyssey” approach.
This movie feature intertwining stories from the past, present, and future. The past is in caveman times where there more wilderness and costumes than CGI effects. The present takes place in 2030 since that’s what people are preparing for on New Year’s Eve. And the future takes place on a space voyager. But compare a movie like “Cloud Atlas,” which had its criticisms for its length, narrative, and whitewashing. Nonetheless, I think it was one of the most visually stunning, under-appreciated, and mind-boggling gems ever created. “In the Blink of an Eye” isn’t that movie.
We have Rashida Jones as an anthropology professor named Claire, who has a boyfriend named Greg (Daveed Diggs) and a dying mother, while in the middle of a research; and Kate McKinnon as an astronaut named Coakley, who is on a space voyage with a female Hal-9000 named ROSCO (voiced by Rhona Rees), human embryos, and dying plants. And there is a cave family-the father Thorn (Jorge Vargas), the mother Hera (Tanaya Beatty), the daughter Lark (Skywalker Hughes and later Tatyana Rose Baptiste), son Lucky (Nox Watkins)-who all deal with love and loss in their struggle for survival. For this family, they start off miserable and they end up being happy. And I think it may have something to do with the connection between neanderthals and homo-sapiens.
“In the Blink of an Eye” was written by Colby Day, whose last space odyssey movie was “Spaceman,” which knew how to handle a comedy star talking on another dramatic role. McKinnon has proven herself to be a serious actress on the side of her comedy career, and “Bombshell” is a wise example. She does what she can here by showing off the right emotions when it comes to age and longevity on such a journey, but when the embryos grow up, they transcend into generic kids and preteens with nothing interesting to say or do. In fact, I should give McKinnon more credit for trying to keep them straight, especially when she mentions she might not be around to see the whole mission through.
The other two stories have more ideas than essence. The anthropologist should be exploring something unique, but instead, it focuses more on her pathos and love story. It’s like it doesn’t even care about what she is uncovering, and suggests that maybe her offspring can contribute to the future more than she could. And the neanderthals have to speak in cave talk without any subtitles, so I guess we have to see what their story unfolds through their situations and noises. Now that can be authentic, but the characters aren’t as vivid as they should be.
At this point, Stanton has two movies out this year: “In the Blink of an Eye” and the upcoming “Toy Story 5.” And I’m pretty sure that one is going to deal with technology, as well. Before we cross that bridge, I suggest you look back at “Wall*E,” and acknowledge how he represented life in the future-a desolated Earth and a second chance for humans to make it hospitable again. For now, his latest live-action entry isn’t as much of a history of the world as it wants to be.
Streaming on Hulu This Friday
