THE MITCHELLS VS THE MACHINES:
A DELIGHTFULLY ABSURD BUT ALSO VERY HEARTFELT ANIMATED ROAD TRIP THAT’S DEFINITELY WORTH GOING ON!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4
NETFLIX, COLUMBIA PICTURES, AND SONY PICTURES ANIMATION
A family road trip suddenly turns into a fight to save the entire human race from evil robots in The Mitchells VS the Machines, the latest film from Sony Pictures Animation and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, The Lego Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) who had previously produced Sony’s Academy Award winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The film is directed by former Gravity Falls writer Mike Rianda and was originally intended as a theatrical release under the new title Connected, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic among other delays the film was given its original title back and dropped onto Netflix.
Sony’s animated films have always been hit or miss to me and while there are a handful of films from them that I enjoyed (Surf’s Up, Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania, The Angry Birds Movie 2), others (Smurfs, The Emoji Movie) not so much. It wasn’t until 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse when not only did I enjoy a Sony animated feature but loved every minute of it to the point where I saw it multiple times in theaters (I’ve never done this with any of the previous Sony animated movies) and declared not only one of my favorite animated features but one of my favorite films in general.
When The Mitchells VS the Machines/Connected was first announced and that Lord and Miller were going to produce it, I was very interested in seeing how it will turn out and the premise seemed completely ridiculous but also has a lot of potential behind it.
I was hoping they can bring the same amount of imagination, wit, and strong family drama from Into the Spider-Verse into this film. And boy, they delivered!
While I don’t think this film is quite as strong as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, I had a blast from beginning to end. This is a film that takes full advantage of its delightfully absurd premise and does everything you can with it, resulting in a howlingly funny and often touching animated adventure, think A Goofy Movie and the Plucky Duck segment of Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation meet Terminator 2.
The film follows the dysfunctional Mitchell family consisting of aspiring filmmaker Katie (voiced by Abbi Jacobson-Broad City, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, The Lego Ninjago Movie), her father Rick (voiced by Danny McBride-Tropic Thunder, This is the End, The Angry Birds Movie 1 and 2), her mother Linda (voiced by Maya Rudolph-Saturday Night Live, Sisters, Big Hero 6), and her dinosaur-obsessed younger brother Aaron (voiced by Rianda) who probably thought Jurassic Park was like the second coming of Jesus…and defended Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom as a good movie! Oh, and the family’s pet dog Monchi.
Anyway, Katie has been accepted to her dream college, but instead of flying there her father comes up with a brilliant idea, take a family road trip to her college as one last bonding experience, and hijinks and hilarity ensue. However, their road trip turns into a mission to save the world when they accidentally find themselves stuck in the middle of a robot uprising caused by the evil artificial intelligence known as PAL (voiced by Olivia Colman-The Favourite, The Crown, The Father) who brings the world’s electronic devices to life to destroy humanity.
With only each other as well as two friendly and dim-witted robots humorously named Eric (voiced by Beck Bennett-Sing, The Angry Birds Movie 2, Bill & Ted Face the Music) and Deborahbot 5000 (voiced by Fred Armisen-Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, The Lego Ninjago Movie), the Mitchells must come together to save themselves and the entire world from the robot apocalypse.
The film also features the voices of Eric Andre (The Eric Andre Show, Man Seeking Woman, The Lion King(2019) as Dr. Mark Bowman, Conan O’Brien (The Simpsons, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Part 2, The Lego Batman Movie) as Glaxxon 5000, Charlyne Yi (Steven Universe, We Bare Bears, Summer Camp Island) as Abby Posey, Chrissy Teigen (FABLife, Lip Sync Battle, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation) as Hailey Posey, and John Legend (Soul Men, La La Land, Jingle Jangle) as Jim Posey.
Overall, The Mitchells VS the Machines is a very funny and even touching adventure for the whole family and easily Sony’s second-best animated film after Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It isn’t anything groundbreaking like Into the Spider-Verse, it’s just funny and most of the jokes hit bullseye and even the ones that don’t quite stick the landing, it doesn’t matter because they’re followed by a million other jokes that do land immediately afterwards, not only was I laughing but I was laughing hard at this film, these are such well-written and clever jokes that often did make me think back to Gravity Falls which makes perfect sense because it was directed by a former writer of that show.
Besides being very funny, the film is also quite imaginative especially with the designs of the robots out to destroy the Mitchells. You got your traditional robots with sleek and simplistic designs that resemble modern technology and then you have an army of living appliances such as toasters, microwaves, washing machines, blenders, vending machines, and even evil Furby dolls that attack the Mitchell family in a shopping mall, you can just tell that the animators were having a field day with these designs and letting their imaginations run wild for our amusement.
The film’s family dynamics are done superbly making them feel like a real family despite being animated characters. Anyone who’s ever been trapped on the family road trip from Hell can easily relate to something in this film whether it’s playing Apocalypse I-Spy, the family never shutting up, or making questionable pit stops, you get what Katie is going through while also learning to be more accepting of her family.
The chemistry between Katie and Rick in particular is very strong and again feels like a real family, Katie is passionate in filmmaking and wants to leave her family and go to college so she can become a filmmaker while her father has no clue about Katie’s passion or goals and is practically against using modern technology (Which is often quite funny as the movie progresses), but he makes sure that Katie comes first in his life even if best efforts to keep their bond strong don’t always work out, it’s a very relatable topic and while they go on their literal journey, the family goes on spiritual and emotional journeys along the way as well.
The Mitchells VS the Machines is a creative, funny, and heartfelt road trip that every family should go on. Zany action, witty jokes and visual humor, and a strong family moral, it’s got something for everyone.
From the blog www.moviewatchinpsychopath.blogspot.com
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