Potential. That's all I can say; every moment watching this, I kept waiting for the movie to redeem itself, to live up to its potential.
As the credits began rolling, I realized this just want going to happen, and I was quite sad.
Visually, this movie goes way beyond appealing. Story-wise, it was lackluster, but still a good vehicle for what could have been an amazing experience. Sadly, the main characters drove every bit of verve right down the drain. If I'd actually watched this in the theater, I'd definitely have chosen any scenes with dialogue/action between Valerian and Lauraline as the perfect times for potty break, buying popcorn ... you get the idea.
I was quite disappointed, and hope somewhere down the line someone redoes this movie with an eye toward actually engaging more than the audience's visual cortex.