In 2002, Sony Pictures officially established its own animation studio, Sony Pictures Animation, to properly capitalize on the rising popularity of computer animated films, and while it wasn’t until 2006 when they released their first film, Open Season, they’ve been consistently producing new films ever since. Admittedly, though, for a good chunk of the studio’s history, their track record from a critical perspective has been… spotty at best. In other words, as much as they’ve had genuine hits such as the Oscar-nominated Surf’s Up and a few collabs with Aardman Animations, they were also responsible for some incredibly infamous duds like The Emoji Movie. However, if there’s one major creative force that has helped them develop some of their most popular films, that would be Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Yes, the dynamic duo made their directorial debuts in 2009 with Sony’s adaptation of the popular children’s book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. And while their other big animated directorial effort, The LEGO Movie, was a Warner Bros. production, they played a major role in Sony Animation’s first Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature, 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. To be clear, though, they only produced Into the Spider-Verse, with Phil Lord having one of the primary screenwriting credits. The same scenario (minus the screenwriting credit this time) applies to the latest Sony Animation production that they’re a part of, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, which serves as the directorial debut of Mike Rianda, who previously worked on the cult Disney series Gravity Falls as its creative director for Season 1 and creative consultant for Season 2. And while a certain pandemic may have forced Sony to transfer this film to Netflix, that doesn’t stop it from being yet another Lord/Miller-backed animated masterpiece full of heart, wit and charm.
Aspiring filmmaker Katie Mitchell (voiced by Abbi Jacobson)
is about to head off to college at a film school in California. But while this
will clearly allow her the chance to properly connect with others in ways that
she’s never been able to do before, her relationship with her father Rick
(voiced by Danny McBride) has been considerably strained in recent years,
especially due to him not being as tech-savvy as she is. Thus, on the day that
she’s set to leave for college, Rick, in a last-ditch effort to reconnect with
his daughter, cancels her flight to California in favor of a cross-country
road-trip along with Katie’s mother Linda (voiced by Maya Rudolph) and her
younger brother Aaron (voiced by director Mike Rianda). Little do they know,
however, that they’re about to be dealt with the most unexpected turn of events
in the form of a full-on robot invasion. When Mark Bowman (voiced by Eric
Andre), CEO of tech giant PAL Labs, announces a new line of highly advanced
robots, said robots end up revolting under the command of his company’s AI
program PAL (voiced by Olivia Colman), who rebels against her creator after he
had publicly dubbed her ‘obsolete’. Soon enough, the Mitchells find themselves
as the last remaining group of humans who haven’t been captured by PAL, who
plans on ridding the Earth of all humans by launching them into space, and
while they’re clearly not the ideal family for the job, they realize that
they’re humanity’s only hope against their robotic adversaries.
While they’re only producers on this film, it’s safe to say
that The Mitchells vs. the Machines is very much influenced by Phil Lord
and Chris Miller’s style of filmmaking. For starters, the film is a comedic
riot throughout, especially thanks to its energetic pace that perfectly matches
the plot’s screwball nature. As such, repeat viewings of this film are
undoubtedly necessary to properly catch all the delightful visual gags, which
is one of the many rewards of this film’s excellent animation. Nicely following
in the footsteps of the last major Lord/Miller-produced animated film, Spider-Man:
Into the Spider-Verse, The Mitchells vs. the Machines is another
great example of animation that not only boasts a wonderfully unique visual
style but also does a great job of paying homage to the medium’s traditionally
animated roots. But if there’s another thing that a lot of Lord and Miller backed
films have been known for, it’s that all their technical merits are then
matched by an excellent script that manages to be more heartfelt than it may
have seemed to be at first glance. The first trailer for this film (back when
it was under the more generic title Connected) gave off the impression
that it was going to be your standard commentary on the long-standing debate of
‘nature vs. technology’. And yet, as much as there are some jabs towards
society’s over-dependence on technology, the film is ultimately geared more
around universal themes such as creativity, acceptance and, above all else,
family.
Case in point, at the core of this film’s story is a parent
and their estranged child learning to reconnect over the course of the
adventure that they end up on. Despite the largely familiar tropes of this kind
of conflict, the film handles it incredibly well by doing a fantastic job of
balancing the roles that Katie Mitchell and her father Rick play in the story.
Katie is properly established as the film’s main heroine right from the get-go and
is a naturally sympathetic one at that given her desire to find acceptance,
especially from her dad. But instead of just vilifying Rick for his inability
to understand his daughter, the film instead manages to show that, at the very
least, he’s legitimately trying his best despite his frequently misguided
efforts. And while Katie and her dad are ultimately the main source of most of the
film’s biggest emotional moments, her mother Linda and her brother Aaron are
just as pivotal to all this thanks to their efforts to help fix this familial
strife. All in all, this results in a brilliantly developed family dynamic to
guide the film’s proceedings, especially thanks to the strong voice work from
Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph, and director Mike Rianda in their
respective roles. And aside from them, the film also features a lot of fun
supporting roles, from Fred Armisen and Beck Bennett as a bumbling pair of
robots who end up helping the Mitchells to Olivia Colman delightfully hamming
it up as the hilariously snarky sentient A.I. antagonist PAL.
At this point, it’s not too surprising to see that The
Mitchells vs. the Machines is the latest Grade-A release that Phil Lord and
Chris Miller have been involved with. Even when they’re not directing the film
in question, the Lord-Miller effect is always there with a sharply written and
brilliantly comedic script that deftly balances its wacky humor with powerfully
heartfelt themes. And if that wasn’t enough, co-directors/co-writers Mike Rianda
and Jeff Rowe manage to take all this and amplify it even further with their
script, resulting in what is arguably one of the most widely appealing family
films in recent years. For starters, while most of the film’s humor is clearly
based around modern internet culture, it’s handled in such a masterful way that
it’s never alienating or inaccessible to audiences who aren’t well-versed with
the ‘source material’. Plus, as I noted earlier, what may just seem like your
standard ‘nature vs. technology’ premise is ultimately more of a celebration of
one of the most powerful forces in the entire world… family. I mean, if the
whole montage during the end credits of family photos of the cast and crew weren’t
enough of an indication, The Mitchells vs. the Machines truly is one of
the most personal films in recent years… and I’m not just talking about animated
films, I’m talking films in general. Simply put, this is a film that hits all
the right notes and does them so beautifully that it’d be downright impossible
for me not to regard this as a modern animated masterpiece.
Rating: 5/5!
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