Back when MTV was a channel looking for reliable programming, the animated serial “Aeon Flux” was a unique show in a much more music-oriented lineup. Now, MTV has decided to rehash the past and turn this animated anomaly into a live-action, mainstream production.

The first step to ultimately dissolving the dark, adult-oriented look of the show was to cast Charlize Theron as Aeon – a superhuman assassin fighting to topple a corrupt tyranny – and throw her smack dab in the middle of LegoLand: 2414.

The LegoLand is actually called Bregna, a seeming utopia that is home to the five million survivors after a pandemic wiped out the rest of the world’s population.

Encased in high, protective walls from “the unknown,” Bregna’s citizens are starting to vanish in a secretive government conspiracy. Aeon the Monican loses her sister to the shadow project and is intent on destroying the aristocracy once and for all. After sneaking into their walls, however, she realizes not everything is what it seems.

The film shares a parallel profile with the sprawling rain forests surrounding this “last city” – three miles wide and one inch deep. The producers attempt to pull off so many effects and so much imagery that they lose sight of the core of the film and ultimately fail to create any real substance.

Right from the beginning, the film doesn’t give an opportunity for any back-story or time for emotional investment in the characters. Aeon’s sister, who is her main motivation to break the government’s secrets, is only briefly introduced in the film, therefore not allowing audiences to understand any depth of the sisters’ relationship.

The main problem with this film is its creators relied on Theron as the centerpiece of the film. In their shortsightedness, they believed Theron walking around in space-age lingerie would keep the film moving for the whole hour and a half.

Much of the movie is a profile of Theron as a model, not an actress, which hindered the real elements of this philosophical story. “Aeon Flux,” the original, comic-like television show, was a much more intellectually investing story line than this candy-coated replica.

The film isn’t even fun to watch because a seemingly last-minute effort to make it intelligible interrupted a possible action-fest with mindless revelation and a half-hearted attempt at emotion.

The largest injustice, however, is against the set designers. Although not entirely accurate to the original’s more urban, gritty surroundings, the creativity with some of the sets was impressive.

Tunnels with sand floors, wide ventilation shafts and a perplexing room of stairs were all highly imaginative and detailed. It seems like the majority of the budget went toward all of these elaborate sets because the rest of the film seemed to lack that blockbuster luster its hype had promised.

What this film is really lacking is a sense of maturity – both in translation and thematic value. Hopefully, the next time MTV decides to give one of its earlier cartoons a live-action feel, it won’t leave it in the hands of a bunch of sci-fi nerds who are only in it for the girl.