You know what one of the biggest tragedies about The Emoji Movie was? There was an opportunity to tell an interesting narrative around smartphones and modern technology, but instead it wound up being a cringeworthy collection of app adds, what at times felt like anti-humor, and uninteresting characters. The Mitchells vs the Machines aims its comedic sensibilities not just specifically towards tech, but more about an overall progress vs. Nostalgia concept.
And that’s part of an entertaining family trip comedy that has a unique blend of ideas its story utilizes well. When the rights to Mitchells were held by Sony, the first trailer came out under the working title “Connected” before Netflix distributed it under the developers’ preferred original title. Smart move, because what makes this film so great isn’t limited to one joke.
Our plot stars Abbi Jacobson as Katie Mitchell, an aspiring young movie maker who’s been going viral online by featuring the family dog Monchi in a series of action-comedy spoofs, and is excited about leaving her Kentwood, Michigan family home for film college in California. Danny McBride is her wilderness-appreciating father Rick, who isn’t up to date on modern things and misses the days when he and a younger Katie would bond over Rihanna songs while enjoying their old cabin home. To bring some of those memories back, he decides to take him, Katie, his wife Linda (Maya Rudolph) and their son Aaron (Mike Rianda) on a cross-country trip to the campus.
Unfortunately, this is occurring while Eric Andre’s smart tech-entrepreneur Mark Bowman has fallen out of favor with PAL, a virtual assistant played by Olivia Colman who’s gone mad with power and is attacking mankind with an army of PAL robots. With every other human on the verge of being blasted into space, only the unassuming Mitchells are left to survive an onslaught of androids, save for SNL’s Beck Bennett and Fred Armisen as two malfunctioning bots that develop a funny parent/child relationship with Linda after drawing “faces” on their front screens with a marker.
The first trailer gave me the impression that this was going to be a more Rick-centric story, with a clear emphasis on his frustration at Katie and his family stuck in front of their smart media, paying no attention to the wonders of the outdoors. And while that is part of the story, the final product’s focus is more around Katie’s POV. Her desire for personal freedom colliding with her happy family memories is the movie’s emotional core, and it’s depicted in a way where the Mitchell’s issues are believable, but in a fashion where they’re still endearing.
And the humor isn’t entirely geared too much towards boomers and parents, nor is it trying too hard to be hip- there’s a nice balancing act of gags at the expense of all generations. They get a ton of comedy out of Rick’s computer illiteracy, yet Aaron isn’t depicted as foolish for not knowing about certain things from the past either.
Much of the story structure revolves around the Mitchell’s dysfunctionality, but it’s a form of dysfunction that still has the characters coming off very charming and sweet. Mostly, they’re just clumsy and uncool, with their yoga-loving and model family neighbors the Poseys serving as their contrast (John Legend makes a voice cameo as their dad). But we’re talking about a likable form of dorkiness, like them bonding through making weird moose noises.
Even with the central conflict with Katie feeling frustrated by how clingy her father is and wanting her independence, the family are never vulgar or cruel toward each other- Rick and Linda are hyper-protective of their children, while Katie and Aaron have an adorable big sis-little bro dynamic. So often siblings in kids’ media don’t get along that well and are often written as rivals, whereas Katie’s more than happy to watch scary films with popcorn, and later play-slap around with her younger sibling while in the process of saving the world.
Mitchells vs. The Machines was co-produced by Spider-Verse makers Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, and they bring a similar sort of aggressive, brightly colored visual energy to the animation. The exceptions here are in instead of a comic book-style aesthetic, it’s more themed around Katie’s scrapbook sketches, which perfectly capture her youth and personality.
Director Mike Rianda keeps a mostly quick pace throughout the story, but when it’s time for the cast to reflect and take in the seriousness of the situation, it does resonate. One moment you can be laughing hysterically at the family getting into a bizarre pratfall, the next you’ll find yourself genuinely concerned about their well-being.
Because the nature of the jokes are often so rapid-fire and frequently thrown at the audience, Netflix’s closed-captioned is surprisingly beneficial. In fact, a scene involving malfunctioning Furbys running amok uses the CC’s automatic translation to provide them with some hilarious lines.
Rianda’s voice for Aaron is a bit distracting by how obviously adult it is at points, but he still has good chemistry with Jacobson’s Katie, whose voice is equally as cute as the one she uses for Princess Bean in Disenchantment. McBride is appropriately loutish but well-meaning as Rick, while Rudolph’s Linda is an eccentric mama bear who is willing to turn into a superpowered anime hero to keep her kids alive. Colman is suitably manipulative and psychotic as PAL, with her diminutive stature making for some entertaining temper tantrums.
Maybe the whole point of Mitchells vs. Machines was to be subversive in that way, lull the audience into a false sense of security by promising what’s allegedly supposed to be the worst family ever. And then it’s like, are you kidding me? This is one of the more lovable bad families I’ve seen in an animated feature in a while, more along the lines of peak Simpsons or Lilo’s family from Lilo & Stitch than how, say, the families on Game Of Thrones treated one another.
So I’ll gladly recommend it as a beguiling animated feature that’s perfect for the entire household. If you’ve streamed it on Netflix, let us know your thoughts on it at FAN’s social media outlets (and we’re sure you’ll be able to navigate through the various online features than Rick can).