The Mitchells vs. the Machines

One thing I've learned during my time of Rath's Reviews is that if Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are involved in something, it's more than likely worth checking out and you can place a reasonable bet that it will be hilarious. 

They're either partially (producing/writing) or completely (directing) responsible for: 21 and 22 Jump Street, The Lego Movie(s), and Spider-man: Into the Spider Verse, just to name a few of their best projects. Now, I don't know about you, but to me? Those are all some of the best comedies of the last decade and some of the best animated films in the last decade. 

The Mitchells vs. the Machines is produced by the Lord/Miller dream team so it immediately makes it worth watching on a film that I otherwise would have completely skipped. 

And I'm glad I didn't because it's yet another hilarious adventure from this duo (and directed by Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe). It didn't reach the highs of Spider-Verse or Lego Movie for me, but that's ok because that's not where my expectations were at. If anything, it pretty substantially passed my expectations both in terms of how heart-warming the story and characters are and how damn funny it can be. 

Streaming on Netflix, The Mitchells vs the Machines, comes across as a fairly standard (and perhaps dull) animated film on the surface. Even looking at the poster, it feels generic to me, and you can tell they're really banking on the "From the humans that brought you XYZ movies" at top to reel you in. It was #1 on Netflix yesterday so it must be working to some degree, but it's just a random thought I had when wanting to recommend this film -- part of me feels that unless someone has children they're going to skip on what looks like "just another animated movie". 

That's a shame because I really liked Mitchells vs. Machines. For starters, it was far funnier than I was anticipating, an error on my part given Lord and Miller's involvement. Laughs range from smiles on your face to full on LOLs based on who's delivering the laughs. Most anything with the dog got a decent laugh from me, but it's the robots themselves who had me rolling, particularly two - played by Fred Armisen and Beck Bennett - who are on the family's side and trying to act like humans. These are simple jokes and gags, but like most of Lord/Miller's comedy, the timing and simplicity of it is just nailed. Aside from those two highlights, you have your typical family hijinks throughout that are amusing. The jokes land frequently and consistently - none really fall flat - but there are some clear ones intended for the children more than adults (as one would expect, not a big deal). 

The whole robot apocalypse thing is kept "light", but I was surprised
by a few elements/moments that felt PG-13 esque

Despite looking generic, our family of characters are all well-designed. Are they as memorable as the best Pixar characters? No...but again: expectations. If anything, I was surprised by this [primarily] father/daughter bonding tale at how much emotion there was during certain moments, especially coming from the dad, Rick (Danny McBride). Katie (Abbi Jacobson) is going off to college/film school and she's never really connected with her outdoors-oriented father on her passion for film. The movie takes most of its time exploring their relationship, and the background behind it, with great success, providing some well-earned emotional peaks. The rest of the film about the robot apocalypse is just a (hard PG, almost PG-13) catalyst for all of this character growth, but it's a fun canvas on which to paint this family's journey. From a voice work perspective, Armisen and Bennett are the stars in my eyes (even in their limited roles) but Maya Rudolph, Jacobson, and McBride all do good jobs with their roles - though I hesitate to say anyone does a great job. Though to be fair, I'm coming off watching Invincible which has some outstanding voicework from Steven Yeun and J.K. Simmons. 

One of the film's best recurring jokes
comes from this confusing little creature

So where does The Mitchells vs. the Machines falter? Interestingly enough, with its animation style (at least for me). Explaining in more detail, I really liked the animation type they chose here - it kind of exists in a plane between Spider-Verse and normal animation. What I didn't like (and that they drive into the ground by the end of it) is the hyper-stimulation of random quick-cuts, emojis/characters, etc. on screen. Probably sounding like the "Damn kids on my lawn!" old man right now, but the style is clearly designed for the TikTok, Generation Alpha kids of the moment. A good example is an early joke comparing the father's facial reactions to a howling monkey. The film cuts to a real video of a howling monkey and the joke is played out. I got a laugh, it should be over. But instead it hyper edits the monkey over the dad's face about 30 times in 3 seconds, creating a ridiculously unnecessary "meme"-animation style that creeps throughout the film. Part of it is related to Katie's filmmaking "style", sure, but otherwise it is more often than not obnoxious. It also wears on the film that goes on about 10-20 minutes too long, particularly in its final act (it's a 113 minute animated film). 

Once again, Lord and Miller have proven that they have the secret sauce for humor that hits, and fun/memorable animation. That's not to say others don't deserve credit as I'm sure the directors, other writers, and producers all contributed greatly, but at this point, Lord and Miller have earned the title of being "constants" throughout most of their endeavors and it's obvious they elevate material. I'm still a little shocked how generic The Mitchells vs. the Machines feels before you even hit play, but I encourage you to do so because it's a hilarious, heart-warming journey the whole family should enjoy.

CONS

• Not the most memorable voice-cast. No one does bad, but no one really stands out either
• About 10-20 minutes too long; the final battle is excessive
• Some of the smaller elements of the animation style are very annoying

PROS

• Surprisingly worthwhile story that's about a father-daughter relationship, encapsulated by the end of the world via robotic takeover. It hits well-earned emotional beats
• Aside from the aforementioned annoying animation parts, this film has a neat cartoon feel that's not quite Spider-Verse (but keeps some elements from it)
• Downright hilarious. Solid jokes throughout and some belly laughs on multiple occasions
• The "human" robots are probably going to be some of the funniest bits of the year
• Fun characters that become more memorable than the generic marketing would suggest
• Colorful, bright, and features some neat action and good music
• Everyone in the family should have a good time with this one

Rath's Review Score | 8/10