*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*
The story focuses on the Mitchell family, which includes film and phone obsessed, Katie (voiced by Abbi Jacobson), her dinosaur obsessed younger brother, Aaron (Rianda), and her parents, Linda (Maya Rudolph) and Rick (Danny McBride). Katie has just been accepted into a college in California and is excited to leave her imperfect and dysfunctional family. However, Rick changes her plans and decides that the whole family is going to go on a road trip to California. Their journey is disrupted by the uprising of evil robots led by villainous PAL (Olivia Colman). This leads to the Mitchell family taking on the robots in order to save the world.
The Mitchells Vs. The Machines was originally scheduled to be released in cinemas in January 2020 but was postponed to September. However, with cinemas being forced to close as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, its release was delayed again to October. With most cinemas still closed, The Mitchells Vs. The Machines was released on the streaming service, Netflix, at the end of April. Although I can understand why it was released on Netflix, it’s a shame that it wasn’t released in cinemas. The cinema is the perfect form of escapism, especially for families. An issue with home viewing is that it’s so easy to get distracted, making it difficult to fully focus on the film. Children are known to get bored and restless easily and, at home, they’ll probably lose interest in the film. If The Mitchells Vs. The Machines was released in cinemas, I think that children would have enjoyed the film more as they’re not distracted.
A lot of animated films are usually aimed more at younger viewers and, because they tell an unoriginal and predictable story, it can be a dull watch for adults. However, that’s why animated production companies, such as Pixar, are so successful as they create animated features that can be enjoyed by viewers of all ages. That’s the case with Sony Pictures Animation’s latest feature, The Mitchells Vs. The Machines, which is the definitive family friendly film. Children will enjoy the fast-paced action and older viewers will be able to relate to the techno obsessed world that the Mitchell family live in.
Modern society has become obsessed with technology, including having the latest smartphone, getting the most likes on the photo sharing app, Instagram, and having the most followers on the social media app, Twitter. The Mitchells Vs. The Machines is set in a world similar to ours with the majority of people addicted to technology. The main character is Katie who is interested in films and is almost always on her phone and making short films. However, her father, Rick, wants to spend quality time with his family before Katie leaves them for college. An amusing scene sees the family at the dinner table struggling to make eye contact and be away from their phones. Although Rianda isn’t anti-technology, he’s just reminding us what’s most important and that’s family. In the beginning, the Mitchell family are dysfunctional, however, they are able to work together to stop the evil uprising of robots which brings them closer together. This is what makes The Mitchells Vs. The Machines one of the best family friendly films to be released recently as it captures the family dynamic really well.
What’s most impressive about The Mitchells Vs. The Machines is its animation, which is filled with bright and colourful visuals which are all imaginative. It’s because of the vibrant animation why I wish I had seen it at the cinema as the quality would have been better on the big screen. When watched on a standard, small television screen, the animation doesn’t impress as much as it probably would have done at the cinema.
Most of the humour in The Mitchells Vs. The Machines comes from the relationship between the titular family who frequently bicker. The characters aren’t perfect and occasionally make mistakes, however, that’s what makes them likeable and relatable. Of the characters, I related to Katie as, not only does she share the same name as me, but we also have a passion for film and technology. She behaves how most people her age do and is excited to finally leave home and her dysfunctional family for college. Katie is a great leading character as she’s bright and has a bubbly personality. The rest of the characters are all fun to watch too, including Katie’s younger brother, Aaron, who is obsessed with dinosaurs and has a crush on Abbey Posey (Charlyne Yi), however, he freaks out whenever he tries to start a conversation with her. Their mother, Linda, is jealous of the seemingly perfect Posey family, which includes Abbey and her parents, Hailey (Chrissy Teigan) and Jim (John Legend). Her husband, Rick, loves nature and is an expert at DIY, however, he believes that his family have become too obsessed with technology. Although most of the robots are evil and controlled by the villainous PAL, the Mitchells are helped by friendly robots, Eric (Beck Bennett) and Deborahbot 5000 (Fred Armisen). The characters are all interesting and fun to watch and add to the overall entertainment of the film.
One of the most important ingredients in making an animated feature is voice casting. If the actor simply reads the dialogue rather than acting it out, it can ruin the enjoyment of the film. Fortunately, The Mitchells Vs. The Machines features a talented cast who all deliver lively and enthusiastic performances. Jacobson is perfectly sweet as Katie and makes her a likeable and interesting individual. McBride and Rudolph are perfect choices to voice her parents, Rick and Linda, as they bring their talented comedic skills to their roles. What’s most interesting about Aaron is that he’s voiced by the writer/director Rianda who is clearly having a lot of fun making The Mitchells Vs. The Machines. Oscar winner, Olivia Colman, is a scene stealer as the villainous artificial intelligence, PAL, who is not as friendly as her name may suggest.
Because they’re best known for producing Into The Spider-Verse, expectations were high for Lord and Miller’s next production, The Mitchell Vs. The Machines. I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed with what Rianda has created as, like the Oscar winning animated feature, it features dazzling and imaginative animation, with the story filled with fast paced action and amusing comedy. Although Into The Spider-Verse was incredibly successful, I think that The Mitchells Vs. The Machines will appeal to a wider audience as it tells an original story.
With The Mitchells Vs. The Machines, writer/director Michael Rianda has created a fun family friendly feature that is filled with vibrant and imaginative animation.
8/10
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