When it comes to big-screen live-action features, Andrew Stanton has caught a bit of a raw deal. Multiple animated masterpieces of Pixar and several episodes of some of the best TV shows of the past decade define most of his career. In 2012, however, his first attempt at a live-action film, John Carter, imploded on the launching pad. While some reclamation has occurred since, critics largely shrugged at the blockbuster adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs pulp hero. Worse, audiences avoided it in droves, cratering the box office. One could probably take this bit further to force in a few more puns, but the point is clear.

Thus, his getting another shot, albeit almost 15 years later and on a streaming service, is an occasion for celebration. Unfortunately, the second attempt is In the Blink of an Eye, a film that deserves whatever negativity may come its way.

Split into three timelines, the Pleistocene era, our modern era, and years into the future, In the Blink of an Eye is about…well…therein lies the rub. It’s about something, that much is clear. And the film’s final denouement, a dueling monologue between modern-era Claire (Rashida Jones) and future-era Coakley (Kate McKinnon), wants us to know it’s about time and mortality. But is it? Or if it is, does the film offer anything unique, insightful, or compelling about those two facts of existence? Alas, though the monologues are pretty, they are largely unearned by the previous 80 or so minutes.

The problem doesn’t lie with the performers, including Neanderthal family Thorn (Jorge Vargas), Hera (Tanaya Beatty), and Lark (Skywalker Hughes); Princeton doctoral students Claire and Greg (Daveed Diggs); and Coakley and her computer best friend Rosco (voiced by Rhona Rees). Nor, strangely, is Colby Day’s writing in each scene to blame. Most scenes possess at least a workmanlike skill. Some certainly rise above that, even. Rather, it is the structure of the thing that proves its undoing.

With a running time that comes in at just over an hour and a half, including credits, the characters never really take shape. They have problems, challenges, and successes, but no inner lives. The audience never develops a connection with them beyond some generalized “well, I hope it works out” kind of human empathy. The movie never gels into a cohesive whole, only a series of vignettes. Some even feel disconnected within their own storyline when the modern slice makes multiple jumps forward.

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One suspects some deep cuts carved into the film’s original running time. For instance, a character is seen in utero and not again until years later. When they do return, the movie barely provides context clues to explain who they are. And if they are barely in the film, AND you have to guess who they are when they show up, why even bother including them in the first place? The editing floor seems the only reasonable explanation.

Unexpectedly, given what John Carter did have going for itself, the visuals are underwhelming as well. The people in the Pleistocene era section often look like figures in the natural history museum, complete with that almost uncanny valley look the museum statues have. The future section unfolds almost entirely on a spacecraft, but it lacks any particular flair or pop to its appearance. Also, despite how alone McKinnon’s character is, the location never feels especially otherworldly or unwelcoming. In many ways, she could be self-isolating in a rather large home. The modern era fares best because it must do the least. Still, it too feels generic in its images and their framing.

Again, though, for this critic, it all comes back to what is In the Blink of an Eye about. And while it is plenty happy to tell you its themes, there’s little in the film to reinforce those statements. As a result, the film’s final minutes feel like a rush to cram in a message the filmmakers largely neglected until that moment.

In the Blink of an Eye is seriously into acorns starting on February 27 on Hulu.

In the Blink of an Eye Trailer: