TV Obsessive
The Mitchells vs the Machines
Hawk: Oh man, do I love The Mitchells vs the Machines. I believe it’s important to preface that this Netflix animated movie is produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the two that directed The LEGO Movie and the 21 Jump Street movies and produced Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Lord and Miller have a very unique visual style and a very specific type of comedy, and their fingerprints are visibly all over this new flick helmed by Michael Rianda (who himself was heavily involved in Gravity Falls; there’s a great team working here).
The Mitchells vs the Machines focuses on Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson), an aspiring filmmaker who is just getting ready to set off to film school across the country. Her father Rick (Danny McBride), desperate to keep the family together, cancels Katie’s flight and insists on taking a road trip there instead. This infuriates Katie, who was eager to get away from her dad. The whole family is along for the ride: Linda (Maya Rudolph), Katie’s dinosaur-obsessed little brother Aaron (Mike Rianda), and their adorably derpy pug Monchi (Instagram sensation Doug the Pug). The family is as dysfunctional and clumsy as they come, but nothing brings you closer to your loved ones like a robot apocalypse, and Katie and her technophobe father are going to be forced to find the love they used to have.
The animation in this movie is astonishing. It’s that gorgeous style of vibrant colors and defined pencil and shading lines in motion, and it just pops. But what really pushes it over the edge is its frequent, small flourishes of bizarro Instagram-style edits and graphics that are used tastefully to punctuate important moments. They’re perfectly calibrated to supplement the scene in question, instead of overwhelming it.
The humor, too, is terrific. This is by far the funniest movie I’ve seen so far in 2021. It’s got an extremely wacky tone and pace, and a visual gag, smash cut or just funny line deliver is rarely far off. In equal doses, it’s got plenty of heart: filling in the backstory to the early days of Rick’s marriage to Linda, which is very touching. Along with a lot of other things, The Mitchells vs the Machines is an anthem to a father’s love for his daughter, and tears are likely by the time the credits roll.
One more thing worth mentioning is this movie’s queer depiction. There’s a girl at film school with whom Katie has been talking constantly and can’t wait to meet in person. She might not quite realize where these things are coming from, and the movie treats that journey with subtlety and respect.
I can’t stop recommending this movie. I’ve recommended it more than once to friends because I forgot I did it the first time, and have come very close to a “Sir, this is a Wendy’s” situation. I just love it so much. It’s enormously sweet, genuinely hilarious, looks fantastic, and is just a treat from start to finish. I can’t wait to see what the team of Rianda, Lord, and Miller come up with next.
Those are our recommendations this week! What are yours? Let us know in the comments!
