The Mitchells vs the Machines is an animated sci-fi comedy movie produced by Sony Pictures Animation. The film is directed by Mike Rianda in his feature directorial debut and stars Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, Eric Andre, Fred Armisen and Olivia Coleman, alongside the voices of other cast members.
The Mitchells vs the Machines is a sweet movie that has a bit of both – family dynamics, sci-fi and evil robots taking over the world. The movie talks about various things that have become a part of our everyday lives and how it is a dangerous precedent to set for future generations.
The Mitchells are your everyday family – older daughter Katie can’t wait to go to college. Throughout her life, she could never fit in with her peers and her family because of her interest in films and film making. She’s smart and funny, but no one really gets her. Her family, consisting of her parents and younger brother Aaron, decide to drop Katie off at her college, during which AI PAL goes rogue and decides to take over the planet. What will the Mitchells do?
The Mitchells vs the Machines is a fun and easy-breezy movie about the importance of family and forming connections with the people around you and the dangers of becoming too dependant on technology.
First and foremost, it deals with the Mitchells as a family and how they all drifted apart, especially Katie and her father Rick. They are very different people – while Katie is always dependent on her technology Rick is outdoorsy and prides himself in fixing everything. Although they were once very in tune with each other, their differing interests have created a void in their relationship that cannot be fixed without both of them trying.
The Mitchells vs the Machines movie tries to put an important point across – while the older generation needs to be more understanding of the younger, the latter needs to cut the former some slack as well. The family starts to enjoy their time together when all of them make the effort to adjust and compromise a bit. Acceptance is also a major part of the storyline.
On the other hand, The Mitchells vs the Machines also puts forth our unhealthy obsession and dependence on technology. Our world nowadays cannot survive without the various miracles that technology has given us. Although it’s great to have them, we also need to take some time off our phones and laptops to do other things. Additionally, AI is never a good idea – it doesn’t take much effort to tamper with code and then we’d just be second class citizens in our world.
Other than these, The Mitchells vs the Machines is very funny and consists of situations and humour that is very relatable. Even the evil robots have a funny sense of humour. There are lots of colourful lights and cute filters all over the place that makes the world around Katie pop. There are cat filters too at the most inopportune moment.
Also, kudos to Olivia Coleman who voiced PAL, she’s absolutely hilarious, even as the rogue AI. The world going into disarray after PAL turns off the Wi-Fi is priceless and I am confident that that is exactly how humans will be behaving in that scenario. The animation is beautiful and fluid as well and the looks absolutely stunning.
Summing up: The Mitchells vs the Machines
The Mitchells vs the Machines is funny and has some really important points to make. It’s a great watch for the little ones in the house but is equally entertaining for the adult members. So, next time you think about ignoring your mother’s call, remember that there’s an AI somewhere who’s tracking your behaviour and might just bite you in the ass in the distant future!
The Mitchells vs the Machines is streaming on Netflix.
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