The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the producers of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, created yet another animated feature film with a distinct visual art style, this one having photographs that are hand drawn, light programmed to behave like paint, and a cast of characters that look like insane caricatures. Decorating this art style are splashes of what look like doodles from a school journal, be it hearts popping up for a moment when somebody hugs another, tiny little dinosaurs in a secret handshake, or a cat filter covering someone’s face. They are the kind of visuals that erase what’s normal and leave behind only what’s ugly.

​The absurd look of the animation fits the tone of the story, which throws around a joke per second while also not shying away from how deeply personal it was to everyone who helped make it. After all the brilliant doses of humor, the director comes right out at the start of the end credits and says he based the Mitchell family on his own imperfect family, just like how everyone who made this movie is from a weird family of misfits. At the end of the day, that is how every filmmaker got their start, which proves why The Mitchells vs. the Machines, in all its self-aware glory put on by a bunch of professionals simply having fun together, is among the best American animated movies ever made.

PG (V)
Comedy/Sci-fi
1 hr. 54 min.

Watch it for FUN.
Watch it to feel HAPPY and SAD.