Movie Thoughts: The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021)

• Released: 30 April 2021
• Directed by: Michael Rianda, Jeff Rowe
• Running time: 1 h 53 min
• Rating 4/5

Synopsis

A family must learn to connect with one another after they end up being the only free people left during a robot takeover. 

My Thoughts

 Not a movie I was looking forward to in particular, but I didn't set out on disliking it either. I mostly went in with cautious optimism. It has some people behind it who were behind The LEGO Movie, which is one of my personal all-time favorite films, but also people behind Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, a movie that was visually great but didn't really have much else to offer for me. Maybe it's just because I genuinely do not care for superhero flicks, but it just did not appeal to me aside from the visuals. 

So how is The Mitchells VS the Machines? I'm pleased to say it was an absolute ride. First of all, the visuals. They are very great. While the main type of animation used is CGI, it's done in a very toony style and of course has many traditional elements mixed in. It's similar to Into the Spiderverse, so needless to say they were on-point. It especially works since one of the main characters is a digital nerd who loves to create movies and animations, so it feels like we sometimes are in one of her videos.

The characters were great. I was worried about some of them coming off as too mean, but even if they have their down moments, it genuinely works. Katie does talk down on her dad behind his back, but it also just feels natural since she's a teen; of course she's going to rebel against her parents, especially her father who is so anti-tech and just doesn't even bother to understand her movies. Rick (her father) wasn't too bad, either, especially as the film goes on. It really just is the bridge between the father and daughter that needed to be built in order for them to understand one another. I also quite liked the mother, and related a lot to Aaron, who I'm 99% positive is neurodivergent. 

The villain was fun (a reference to HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey) and we also got some enjoyable robot characters in two defective robots that end up joining the Mitchells on their quest. 

The humor was often hilarious and it had some genuinely great moments. I also quite liked the use of pre-existing things such as movies and products (the Furby scene is hilarious. Keep the closed captions on during it). 

Another thing I wanted to bring up was the healthy sibling dynamic going on between Katie and Aaron. They're both quirky and can be perceived as weird, and Aaron probably is neurodivergent, but they constantly support one another and each other's interests. It's just so great to see because many media have sibling dynamics where they fight a lot for example.

Overall, this was a great and hilarious movie. I don't know if I'll be re-watching it anytime soon, but I had an absolute blast experiencing it for the first time. Definitely check it out.