Netflix’s latest animated offering, The Mitchells vs the Machines, is a quirky, emotive and humorous animation with important messages for viewers of all ages.
Mike Rianda (in his feature directorial debut) and Jeff Rowe have co-directed and co-written a fresh and innovative take on the traditional cartoon. (Credit should also go to producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, whose resumes also include The Lego Movie and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.) It helps that The Mitchells vs the Machines doesn’t fall into one genre: it’s science-fiction, it’s a comedy, and there’s plenty of action and adventure too. 2D and 3D visuals are combined to create a digital cinematic delight, and the film makes for a funny—indeed, borderline crazy—family-friendly adventure.
The story surrounds the highly eccentric Mitchells as they embark on a family road trip. Their bonding time soon gets interrupted, however, when the world’s electronic devices come to life to stage an uprising. The Mitchells must then come together to save the planet from the new technological revolution, discovering the importance of family along the way.
For all its bursts of colour, realistic background settings, modern and catchy music and plenty of jokes, this cleverly animated movie still carries an important message for children and adults alike: we can’t let our lives be run—metaphorically or otherwise—by technology. The film effortlessly captures the tensions between that technology and family time, and focuses on the importance of communication, trust and human interaction. As the film progresses these are shown to be, quite literally in the Mitchells’ case, vital to our lives.
The idea of technology literally taking over through a robot uprising is, at first glance, easy to write off as a child-friendly copy of 2004’s I, Robot (the film, not Isaac Asimov’s book, which ironically took care to avoid re-hashing the trope of a robot rebellion). However, The Mitchells vs the Machines is original enough to stand on its own, and is certainly a fun way of communicating to the younger generation the extent to which technology is taking over our daily lives, and the risk it poses to things like our relationships with our families.
However, although these messages are important, they become a bit tedious towards the end of the movie. There are a few too many self-reflective breaks and emotional epiphanies from Katie (Abbi Jacobson) and her dad (Danny McBride), in particular. This results in a cheesy, slightly over-long story, and threatens to undermine its emotional impact. The animation and witticisms are refreshing, but the emotional family turmoil often clashes with and overrides the comedic value.
Having said that, the nostalgic attributes of The Mitchells vs the Machines are certainly warm and wholesome. Katie’s baby videos are from 2005, and the ‘old’ song she sings with her dad is T.I. and Rhianna’s ‘Live your Life,’ instead of a 1980s classic. It’s obvious that this movie’s target audience is on the younger side, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be an enjoyable watch for older viewers. The film is also packed with modern and cleverly altered references, mildly but pointedly poking fun at technology giants such as Apple. The comical representation and alteration of these literal matters both help to express the lesson of the movie, as Rianda creates a relatable yet amusing depiction of our world.
That aforementioned slightly problematic emotional rollercoaster, meanwhile, also works in the film’s favour. It sends you from hearty laughing onto a quick dip of wanting to erase your entire social media presence, before swiftly looping into the desire to call your family and tell them you love them—with a few bumps of resurfaced teenage guilt, before ending on an eye-opening nostalgic free-fall.
The Verdict
The Mitchells vs the Machines carries an important topical message in a fun, authentic manner, alongside plenty of giggles and some ludicrous, exaggerated anecdotes. However, its emotional aspects at times threaten to countermand the fun, light-hearted feel expected from a family animation.
Rating: 7/10
Words by Nicole Lang
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