334. The Mitchells vs. The Machines; movie review

 

MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES

Cert U

109 mins

BBFC advice: Contains mild violence, very mild threat, rude humour, language

With all the doom and gloom of another ghastly Covid variant I really needed a good giggle.

And, thankfully, Mitchells Vs. The Machines tickled my ribs until they hurt.

Perhaps my glee was exaggerated because it was so unexpected. Frankly, the premise of a dysfunctional family and their dog being the only survivors of an android takeover of earth wasn't obvious comedy material.

But debut director Mike Rianda and Jeff Rowe makes such a super job of developing the Mitchells that I would be keen to see them again.

This is part down to the exciting mash of computer-generated animation and comic-style pull-outs.

The film is narrated by Katie Mitchell (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) , an aspiring film-maker who constantly clashes with her dad (Danny McBride).

Anyway, she is set to go to film school and in a clumsy attempt to make things right between the family, her dad organises a road trip so they can help her move in.

At the same time, the world's most famous tech entrepreneur (Eric André) declares his current intelligent phone PA (Olivia Colman) obsolete and announces new ultra-advanced AI robots as its replacement.

However, his plan goes badly awry and the robots turn on the human race, leaving, by a very circuitous route, The Mitchells to save the world.

The fun comes from the multiple mess-ups and misunderstandings along the way, particularly between father and daughter.

Of course ,we all know that this is an animation so all will be well in the end and that good will defeat evil.

But despite the predictable denouement, the pathos of a proud parent struggling to get it right with his daughter still resonated.

Oh, and there are fun moments including a slobbering dog too.

Reasons to watch: More laughs than most films this year

Reasons to avoid: Too exaggerated at times]

Laughs: Seven

Jumps: None

Vomit: Yes

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 8.5/10

Did you know? The filmmakers incorporated a fully developed robot language throughout the film, with tons of hidden jokes for any intrepid fans to translate. 

The final word. Jeff Rowe: "Something that we liked the idea of was taking something really expensive and well-crafted, like an animated film, and then just messing it up. Just doodling on top of it, screwing it up, breaking it, bad font choices, that interplay between something really high end and something really human and expressive." Mashable

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