‘The Mitchells vs. the Machines’ Is Another Resounding Win for Sony Pictures Animation

All hail Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, purveyors of all things deliriously unhinged, meta, and yet still somehow deeply thoughtful. I still contend one of the biggest mistakes in blockbuster moviemaking the last decade was Disney balking on their vision for Solo: A Star Wars Story I Watched Once and Immediately Forgot About. As far as mainstream entertainment goes, they’re two of the most important voices — either in live-action or animation — that we have at the moment.

To be fair, they only serve as producers on The Mitchells vs. the Machines. The credit should go to Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe, who shared both writing and directing duties. (Don’t worry, after this opening preamble, they will be getting their fair share.) But Lord and Miller have proven themselves as insanely creative forces, whether that means directing, writing, or shepherding lovably bizarre projects as producers. Between Into the Spider-Verse and The Mitchells vs. the Machines, they’ve vaulted Sony Pictures Animation into a previously unforeseen level of animation excellence.

We’re the Mitchells

Katie Mitchell (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) is probably a great follow on Film Twitter. She’s grown up making countless films on her phone (most of them utilizing her cross-eyed dog Monchi) and uploading them to YouTube. They’re affectionate parodies of real movies, like Dial “B” for Burger. (There are so many AMAZING movie references, from Portrait of an Idiot on Fire to this universe’s version of the Criterion Collection and Kino Lorber, the “K” Collection. She’s got great taste.) She’s also a queer character, and immediately one of the best examples of LGBTQ representation in modern animation. One whose sexuality isn’t her only character trait like comparable characters in many other recent mainstream films, but a part (if still an important one) of a wonderfully well-rounded character. She’s about to head off to film school in Los Angeles, and the rest of her family is sad to see her go. Her nine-year-old brother, Aaron (voiced by Michael Rianda) is really into dinosaurs and views Katie as his best friend. Her mother, Linda (voiced by Maya Rudolph), is the super eager and supportive type who is far too obsessed with Instagram.

And then there’s her dad, Rick (voiced by Danny McBride), the “all technology is frightening” parent stereotype you’ve seen before that is played with far more depth this time around. He and Katie used to be incredibly close, but have grown apart as Katie has grown up. The film shows plenty of home videos with adorable moments between the two, including a nostalgic singing of T.I. and Rihanna’s “Live Your Life”. The fact that we’re now nostalgic for “Live Your Life” enough to make it an important piece of bonding for two characters in a movie is terrifying to think about, something that helps you identify with Rick in his out-of-touch state. In an instant, it’s like he no longer knows who his daughter is anymore.

After a disagreement, Rick and the rest of the family offer to drive Katie all the way to film school. Well, he doesn’t offer — he cancels her plane ticket and forces her to go on the bonding trip.

The Big Tech Apocalypse

Meanwhile, Big Tech is at it again with Mark Bowman (voiced by Eric André), the creator of PAL labs — an Apple riff with all the safety guards turned off — about to present the company’s latest creation of servant robots. Immediately, his robots turns on him — led by the initial PAL operating system voice by Olivia Colman — and start hunting down all of humanity with the goal of shooting all of mankind into space.

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