The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)
“It’s almost like stealing people’s data and giving it to hyper-intelligent AI as part of an unregulated tech monopoly was a bad thing.” – Mark.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)
Directed by: Michael Rianda, Jeff Rowe
Written by: Michael Rianda, Jeff Rowe, Peter Szilagyi
Starring: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Olivia Colman, Maya Rudolph
This generation’s Incredibles.
It’s not a like-for-like comparison, and it’s definitely not as good (sorry Gen-Z), but I couldn’t stop thinking about the parallels.
A family of misfits (the Mitchells) team-up to defeat a villain who has weaponised everyday technology. Along the way the family becomes closer and learn to appreciate each other’s imperfections. So yeah, it’s pretty similar.
It helps that this movie has a LOT of exciting action sequences, which were probably my favourite sections of the film. The animation is gorgeous, the narrative is very tongue-in-cheek, with the subliminal messaging of ‘human-reliance-on-technology = bad’ simple enough for even younger viewers to understand, and there are enough jokes for older viewers too.
Not quite on Pixar’s level, and a lot more juvenile than the more multi-layered screenplays like Soul. But if you embrace the innocent frivolity of an animated adventure, you’ll have a fun time.
Rating: 8/10