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The Mitchells Vs. The Machines Movie Review: This Roadtrip Disaster Is One Fun Ride

I have a fairly firm rule about not taking any road trips that last longer than five hours. Nothing tests the limits of family bonds more than compressing everyone into a confined space for extended periods of time. That creates a interesting challenge for road trip genre films: take something many people find annoying and make it funny enough they’ll spend two hours watching a movie about it. In The Mitchells Vs. The Machines, the traditional family road trip faces a robot apocalypse…and yes, comedy ensues.

The film begins with artsy Katie Mitchell’s (Abbi Jacobson) acceptance into film school. There, she will finally be with “her people.” That means leaving behind her technology-adverse father Rick (Danny McBride), who definitely does not get the point of her quirky films. Her cloyingly sweet mother, Linda (Maya Rudolph) and her dinosaur-obsessed little brother Aaron (Mike Rianda, who also directed and co-wrote the film) do not clash with Katie as much as her dad, but they embarrass her as only moms and little brothers can.

After a huge fight, Rick plans a road trip to drop Katie off at school, hoping to heal the rift in the family. The journey hits a snag when Dr. Mark Bowman (Eric Andre), the founder of PAL Labs, accidentally sets off a robot uprising led by PAL (Olivia Colman), the virtual assistant he created.

THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES – (L-R) Abbi Jacobson as “Katie Mitchell”, Maya Rudolph as “Linda Mitchell”, Danny McBride as “Rick Mitchell”, Doug the Pug as “Monchi”, Mike Rianda as “Aaron Mitchell”, Fred Armisen as “Deborahbot 5000” and Beck Bennett as “Eric”. Cr: ©2021 SPAI. All Rights Reserved.

Academy Award winners Phil Lord and Christopher Miller produced the film, and their influence is apparent with the unique animated style the filmmakers referred to as “Katie Vision.” 2D graphics and storyboards were inserted into the film to occasionally break the fourth wall and showcase Katie’s point of view. The results created a fun and unconventional style that formed the perfect visual representation of Katie’s perspective.

THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES – (L-R) Maya Rudolph as “Linda Mitchell”, Abbi Jacobson as “Katie Mitchell”, Doug the Pug as “Monchi”, Mike Rianda as “Aaron Mitchell”, and Danny McBride as “Rick Mitchell”. Cr: ©2021 SPAI. All Rights Reserved.

The film moves at a brisk and almost manic rate, yet despite that speed still manages to clock in at just shy of two hours. The wild pacing does allow things to occasionally drift off the rails in the second half of the movie, but things never go too far afield that the plot cannot pull you back in. Even when things get chaotic and messy, a surprisingly heartwarming story about family and acceptance remains at the film’s core.

The talented vocal cast of The Mitchells Vs. The Machines contains mostly comedians, which surely helped the film in refining its comedic voice. However, the standout performance arrives in the form of the deliciously cold and evil PAL, voiced by Olivia Colman. Her scene-stealing performance is sure to have you question your dependence on Alexa and Siri.

Despite the fact that road trip films, quirky and misunderstood teenager films, and even technology apocalypse films are nothing new, The Mitchells vs. The Machines manages to combine all of those elements and create something that feels fresh. This funny and clever comedy packs in surprising warmth and emotion, making it a great choice for your next family movie night.

The Mitchells vs. The Machines begins streaming on Netflix on April 30, 2021.

About The Mitchells Vs. The Machines

Rating:PG (Action and Some Language)
Runtime: 1h 54m

A quirky, dysfunctional family’s road trip is upended when they find themselves in the middle of the robot apocalypse and suddenly become humanity’s unlikeliest last hope!

As The Bunny Hops®