'The Mitchells vs. the Machines' Review
PG: Action and some language
Runtime: 1 Hr and 49 Minutes
Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Lord Miller Productions
Distributor: Netflix
Director: Mike Rianda
Writer: Mike Rianda, Jeff Rowe
Voice Cast: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Eric Andre, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, Conan O'Brien, Charlyne Yi, Sasheer Zamata, Mike Rianda, Olivia Colman
Release Date: April 30, 2021
Netflix
An ordinary family finds themselves in the middle of their biggest challenge yet… saving the world from the robot apocalypse. No big deal, right? It all starts when creative outsider Katie Mitchell is accepted into the film school of her dreams and is eager to leave home and find “her people,” when her nature-loving dad insists on having the whole family drive her to school and bond during one last totally not-awkward-or-forced road trip. But just when the trip can’t get any worse, the family suddenly finds itself in the middle of the robot uprising! Everything from smartphones to Roombas to evil Furbys is employed to capture every human on the planet. Now it’s up to the Mitchells, including upbeat mom Linda, quirky little brother Aaron, their squishy pug, Monchi, and two friendly but simpleminded robots to save humanity.
If there was any highly-anticipated movie I’d been hyped to see for the past year and a half, it was The Mitchells vs. the Machines. When the first trailer debuted in early 2020 under its previous title Connected, I was blown away by the stylized 2D/3D hybrid animation and its original premise. A family road trip comedy set during a robot apocalypse? That’s insane, yet wildly original. Plus, Phil Lord and Chris Miller producing, along with Gravity Falls writer/creative director Michael Rianda directing? Needless to say, I was pumped to see it… and then the pandemmy happened. Like most 2020 movies, it was delayed indefinitely. Then, BOOM, January 2021 rolled around and Sony sold the film to Netflix, along with their other animated feature Wish Dragon (slated for release later this year). One of my long-awaited, highly-anticipated movies of the year has finally arrived and oh my God, it’s even more magnificent than I expected.
Sony Pictures Animation has become a major gamechanger in the animation industry. Ever since Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, they’ve doubled down on taking risks to make each feature feel visually stylized to stand out amongst the typical CG flair. The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a breathtaking marvel to witness. There are so many art styles and animation techniques incorporated with each frame to bring this sci-fi road trip comedy to life. Clocking in at a nearly two-hour run time, this is an animation epic in every sense.
If Spider-Verse was meant to evoke the style of a comic book, then The Mitchells vs. The Machines is more in tune with a graphic novel. It’s one of those stylized films that incorporate a variety of 2D techniques and art styles within a 3D CG landscape and it’s breathtakingly gorgeous. It’s as if the animators went into a treasure trove of Crayola paints and pastels to make this movie pop more than standard CG productions. Even deconstructing the animation and the techniques utilized to give this world its flair is a friggin’ challenge. So, here’s a Twitter thread by producer Chris Miller that describes each trick and technique used to give this masterful work of art its visual flair. That thread is just a glimpse at how unique and bold director Mike Rianda has to be to make this original story bleed into its style.
The narrative combines the likes of a sci-fi uprising with a coming-of-age story. Think of it as if Lady Bird and her family went on a Goofy Movie-type road trip and had to go up against Skynet. Much like many coming-of-age stories, this one is framed through the perspective of Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson), a teenage filmmaker who got into film school and is ready to finally leave her family, including her loving, quirky mom Linda (Maya Rudolph), her dinosaur-loving brother Aaron (Michael Rianda) and her nature-loving dad Rick (Danny McBride), who she never sees eye to eye with. There is a glaring emotional distance between her and her dad, for their relationship is on its last leg. As a last-ditch effort to help Katie connect with her family once last time, he devises a road trip for the family to get her all the way from Michigan to California. However, an evil AI of one of the biggest tech companies (Olivia Colman) goes rogue and enacts a robot uprising. Now the Mitchells, the last family left, must survive the threat of robots (and each other) to save the world.
The driving force of this comedy is the Mitchells’ family dynamic. Though they are as dysfunctional as an animated family can be, you'll find yourself identifying with their offbeat personalities and falling in love with them. They’re all written with enough depth, especially with the primary focus set on the relationship between Katie and Rick. Besides, what’s a Lord/Miller production without a daddy issue theme? There are major similarities between Katie and Rick’s dynamic and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’ Flint and his father Tim Lockwood — the passionate creative with a heavy-built old school dad who just doesn’t understand them. That being said, the way that writers Jeff Rowe and Michael Rianda construct the arc between father and daughter trying to reconnect despite their opposing worldviews, on top of a world-threatening apocalypse, is incredibly heartwarming and will have you tearing up in joy by the finale. Apart from that, the film has a wickedly funny sense of humor. It’s packed with hilarious, surreal jokes and visual gags from beginning to end with even funnier action set pieces to boot. There’s an exhilarating Mall of the Globe set-piece featuring inanimate appliances and Furby’s come to life and God, it needs to be put in an animation hall of fame for how imaginative and hysterical it is.
The voice cast is stacked with incredible comedic talent, ranging from SNL alumni, current cast members, and a queen. The writing for all the Mitchells and the side characters is so fantastic that you see them as characters and not as avatars for famous voice actors. Abbi Jacobson is absolutely phenomenal as Katie. Jacobson has been delving into voice acting for a while now and honestly, this is her best post-Broad City performance yet. She embodies so much realism and emotion that I resonated with her engaging opening monologue. I felt so seen by this character, from her passion for film to her self-taught love for it, and the need to find people who understand her when hardly anyone in her family does. I’d love to have a friend like Katie Mitchell. I bet she has a Letterboxd and is on film Twitter all the time. Danny McBride is so down-to-earth and lovable as Rick, but the MVP who steals the show is the queen herself, Olivia Colman as the antagonist AI Pal. Pal has such a simple design — a robotic smiley face — yet Colman’s incredible line delivery makes it a voice performance for the ages. I read in the press notes that whenever somebody did a recording session with Olivia Colman, they’d silently go, “oh my god” in hushed awe. And yeah, I did the same. I want to see behind-the-scenes footage of her recording sessions because she’s just that talented. It goes to show that even as a face on a mobile phone, Olivia Colman can still astound you.
I only have one small nitpick with this film, which is the humor. A lot of the jokes worked for me and will delight families without a doubt, but because Katie is a Gen-Z kid, the film features heavy “LOL RAWR XD” humor that gets irritating. The movie would stop for Katie to deliver a joke that references a live-action video, undercutting either a funnier joke or an impactful moment. In context, some of that works because the film is mostly told through her perspective. Most of the 2D hand-drawn elements are part of an imaginative element called Katie vision where little drawings would appear to coincide with her emotions in order to personalize the story. I thought that was a bit too pandering because it’s major 2010s-type humor, but I’m willing to overlook it.
I know it’s super early in the year to claim this, but The Mitchells vs. the Machines is undoubtedly one of the best films of the year. Sony Pictures Animation struck gold once again by providing a stylized and unique visual splendor of a film with a heartwarming and hilarious story to boot. Considering this is director Michael Rianda’s debut, he blew down the door with an excellent showcase of his talents.
