Chris Pratt‘s 2025 sci-fi movie with a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes makes the actor’s earlier 2014 hit seem even more impressive all these years later. Throughout the course of his career, Chris Pratt has been involved with many iconic movies and franchises over the years, including roles in the Jurᴀssic World series, the Lego movies, and the MCU timeline.

Appearing in everything from political action thrillers to animated releases that have seen him play Mario and Garfield, Pratt’s filmography is a varied one, to say the least. Interestingly, said film history also includes one of recent histories’ most well-regarded sci-fi films, and one of its least critically well-received, making these releases all the more interesting to compare.

The Electric State’s 14% Rotten Tomatoes Score Makes Chris Pratt’s 92% Rated 2014 Hit Even More Impressive

The Electric State initially seemed to be a movie with the potential to garner major critical acclaim. The combination of a $320 million budget, the Russo brothers as directors, a star-studded cast – featuring the likes of Chris Pratt, Milly Bobby Brown, Anthony Mackie and Brian Cox – and an eye-catching sci-fi world appeared to pave a road to success.

However, the film’s release saw a less positive response. The Electric State currently has a 14% critic Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes – and while the audience Popcornmeter score comes in at a better 68%, even this reflects an at best divided reception to the movie and its story.

All of this serves to make Chris Pratt’s other prior notable sci-fi starring role even more notable, as its critical reception is a far different story to this day. Guardians of the Galaxy currently has a 92% score for both its Tomatometer and Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes, reflecting the success of the first film in the trilogy.

Not only does Guardians of the Galaxy have a far higher review score overall compared to The Electric State 11 years after its release, it also netted this result on a lower budget. As per The Numbers, the original Guardians of the Galaxy had a budget of $170 million, meaning it cost just over half of The Electric State‘s own reported budget as well.

Why Guardians Of The Galaxy Has A Much Higher Critic Review Score Than The Electric State

Ultimately, the premise of The Electric State appears to sabotage it somewhat in terms of the story it’s telling. With the original source material the film takes from being a more drawn-back look at the dangers of consumerism and technology, the divide between this and the more conventionally blockbuster-aimed film seems to have lost many critics.

While Guardians of the Galaxy also played with its source material, audiences seem to have connected more emotionally with it overall – no doubt helped by the fact the movie opens with one of its most tragic and vulnerable scenes, showing a young Peter Quill losing his mother before he’s kidnapped by the Ravagers and taken to live in space.

Though both films feature sci-fi action, the fact Guardians of the Galaxy is able to hinge more around the core team coming together gives it an easy way to continually endear itself to viewers. Even the film’s most alien characters have very human motivations and emotions, and this is always the focus of the story.

That said, it’s also possible The Electric State is a victim of its own success in a sense. As one of Netflix’s most expensive movies – and a film stocked with household names – expectations may have arguably been higher for the film from the offset, thus playing a part in many feeling let down by the movie they got.

Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Rotten Tomatoes Scores Perfectly Explains Why The Film Became A Trilogy

With all this said, it’s also worth noting that Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Rotten Tomatoes score isn’t just impressive when compared to The Electric State – it’s impressive when compared to almost any other movie. This is most easily evidenced by comparing Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Rotten Tomatoes scores against other superhero movies.

For context, these results give Guardians of the Galaxy a higher Popcornmeter score than Avengers: Endgame, a higher Tomatometer than Avengers: Infinity War, and overall scores that are only 2% away from matching The Dark Knight. Given the DC film is one of the most highly regarded superhero movies of all time, this speaks volumes.

With both the superhero and sci-fi genres so often being hit-or-miss when it comes to their movie installments, the fact Guardians of the Galaxy manages to effectively pull off being both is undeniably impressive. This also highlights why the series eventually became a full trilogy, as it’s clear fans resonated with the initial story and would be eager for more.

Now that Guardians of the Galaxy has had its two film follow-ups – and James Gunn is instead the co-CEO of DC Studios – it’s not clear what the series’ future holds for Chris Pratt or several other MCU stars. However, whatever unfolds, it seems the original Guardians of the Galaxy will likely only continue to look more impressive with time.