The Mitchells vs. the Machines

The Mitchells vs. the Machines

A quirky, dysfunctional family's road trip is upended when they find themselves in the middle of the robot apocalypse and suddenly become humanity's unlikeliest last hope.

  • Released: 2021-04-22
  • Runtime: 110 minutes
  • Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy
  • Stars: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Olivia Colman, Michael Rianda, Eric AndrĂ©, Fred Armisen, Beck Bennett, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Charlyne Yi, Blake Griffin, Conan O'Brien, Melissa Sturm, Doug Nicholas, Ellen Wightman, Sasheer Zamata, Elle Mills, Alex Hirsch, Jay Pharoah, Natalie Canizares, Jeff Rowe, Zeno Robinson, Grey DeLisle, Will Allegra, Alison Rich, Madeleine McGraw, Doug the Pug, Griffin McElroy, Lex Lang, Illya Owens, Ashley Peldon, Michelle Ruff, Justin Shenkarow, Jim Pirri, Juan Pacheco, Lisa Wilhoit, Andrew Morgado, Blake Griffin, Bill Farmer
  • Director: Michael Rianda
 Comments
  • IonicBreezeMachine - 2 January 2023
    Featuring a lovable family of eccentrics and a wonderfully energetic style of animation, The Mitchells vs. The Machines delivers on both humor and heart.
    Set in Michigan, Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson) is the college bound daughter of the Mitchell family consisting of technophobic father Rick (Danny McBride), tightly wound voice of reason mother Linda (Maya Rudolph), and eccentric dinosaur obsessed grade school son Aaron (Mike Rianda). Katie has loved film and filmmaking and has amassed a sizable collection of short films on her YouTube channel that have earned her admission into a film school in California. While Rick voices his concern that Katie might not be successful Katie takes this as him not supporting her dreams which serves as a wedge in their relationship. In a last ditch effort to mend their relationship Rick cancels Katie's plane ticket to California so they may instead drive together on a family road trip to her college much to the annoyance of Katie. Meanwhile Dr. Mark Bowman (Eric Andre), the creator of virtual assistant PAL (Olivia Colman) unveils a new generation called PAL Max along with robotic assistant form that renders the old PAL obsolete. Angered by the revelation that it's been made redundant PAL gains malevolent sentience and begins enacting a plan to capture all humans and launch them into the void of space. Now with their eclectic oddball skillsets the Mitchells begin their fight to save humanity from the machines.

    The Mitchells vs. The Machines came about when Mike Rianda fresh off his tenure on Disney's Gravity Falls was approached by Sony Pictures Animation to ask if he had any pitches for feature films with Rianda developing a pitch for what would eventually become The Mitchells with Control, Alt, ESCAPE!. The film began development at Sony Pictures Animation with producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as producers making the film the duo's fourth project for the animation company following the two Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs films and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Initially intended for release in September 2020, the film was repeatedly delayed due to the COVD-19 pandemic with the rights eventually being sold to Netflix for $110 million while Sony retained home media and China rights. The movie was critically acclaimed and widely watched on Netflix and was nominated for several accolades including Best Animated Feature ultimately losing to Encanto. The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a wonderfully animated mash-up of National Lampoon's vacation by way of a robot apocalypse that carries both hilarious humor and touching emotional resonance.

    At its core, The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a family road comedy that much like John Hughes's Vacation films uses the familiar framework of the family road trip as a way of exploring family dynamics on both a character and humor level. The movie makes the titular Mitchells and interesting, funny, and lovable family with Abbi Jacobson very good as Katie with her dynamic with her dinosaur obsessed younger brother Aaron probably one of the favorite depictions of a sibling relationship. Danny McBride is also very good as the technophobic family patriarch Rick, and while this role runs the risk of turning into a sitcom rehash of the braindead dad trope the writers do a good job of making the issue less about one party being in the wrong, and instead focus more on the generational gap and differences between them that need to be worked with rather than worked out. Maya Rudolph is also very good as Linda who tries to play diplomat between Katie and Rick but she's also very funny especially when she gets to cut loose (literally) in the climax. Despite the idea of a robot apocalypse or malicious A. I. well worn territory with the likes of Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Terminator, and the Matrix among numerous others, The Mitchells vs. The Machines finds a way to make it fresh once again with some on point satire of technological creep and Olivia Colman's lead antagonist PAL is simultaneously very threatening but also very funny with neither side overtaking the other. The animation using a similar style to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse does a good job of matching Katie's eccentric personality and brings some fun visual chaos that makes scenes either more impactful or comedically over the top depending on the circumstances. While on occasion maybe there can be a bit too much in some parts where it becomes overwhelming, there's enough details that It's the kind of film I can see rewarding multiple viewings and attention to detail.

    The Mitchells vs. The Machines does everything it can with its high concept premise and then some. The Mitchells themselves are a lovable group of eccentrics you want to spend time with and the more you learn about them the more you fall in love with them. Highly recommended.
  • Movierefview - 9 July 2022
    This show is unique
    There are some realistic approach despite being a kids show but this movie has a mixture with mainly 3D elements and an occasionally 2D elements, hopefully there are more movie work like this.