The Mitchells vs. The Machines was released on April 30th of 2021 and I had never heard of it till this year when the nominees for best-animated films were announced. Even though The Mitchells vs. The Machines was never nominated, a lot of people on social media were talking about it, recommending this film over all the other nominees – so I decided to look for it and boy-oh-boy was I hooked.

From the name itself, you might assume it’s your animation films like “Monster vs Aliens” or another Terminator movie however what I loved about this film is the relatable storytelling and unique animation art style with a mixture of memes in-between. Nothing beats comedy in the film genres and this film had plenty of it, just thinking about it makes me crack a smile on my face lol…

A lot of people have this feeling of being different and not feeling accepted by society but even though that may be the case we find ways to cope and appreciate ourselves with our differences. We find what we love and stick to it.

For example, gamers in the early ’90s were looked at as lazy people with their eyes glued to the screen and with no potential future for them but 20 years later those same gamers have become successful by organizing game events that draw in the entire world. You have people from America willing to travel to Tokyo Japan just for a weekend gaming convention.

Some gamers make millions online by streaming their plays whether on Youtube or Twitch. It’s not only gaming specifically but photographers, videographers, graffiti artists, etc. My point is this film sure relates to many people out there and I understand why a lot of people had wanted it to be nominated amongst the others for the best animation film.

Katie is one of those people that have felt out of place from the world from a very young age, she had been making quirky videos with her father from a very young age and she grew up with that being her passion and inspiration.

However, as she gets older, her father focuses more on work and distances himself from watching any of the videos that she posts on Youtube coursing the two to grow apart.

She applies to a college in filming where she is accepted and Katie is excited to meet people that think like her and love the things she loves however on the last day at home before her flight to college, the family gets together and tries to have one last family dinner which ends in disaster due to the argument between Kate and her father.

Rick Mitchell is a simple father that loved living in the woods, with nature, away from all the technology and blue screens that people have in their hands called smartphones. Rick is said to be able to fix almost anything and yet the thing that’s most broken is his family.

His daughter Katie makes unconventional videos and wants to be amongst people like her at any cost, his son Aaron loves dinosaurs and would like to have someone who can talk to him about them to the point that he calls everyone on the address book looking for someone to talk to. That’s abnormally crazy even amongst crazy.

This family is a hot mess so Rick cancels Katie’s flight and instead opts to drive her to college on a cross-country road trip so that they can make up before she leaves and never returns home as the mother Linda fears. This is another thing I found profound as many children who leave for college rarely return home after graduating, opting to stay away from their partners and make a life of their own.

So as they’re on their way, their smartphone provider “Pal” is announcing a new product on the line that ends up turning against humanity and plans to launch all the humans into space but they will have unlimited “Wi-Fi” so that should ease their pain and resistance lol…

If I’m being honest, this was to be expected as humans after receiving something better tend to through away what they deem as inferior, especially smartphones. If you give an “Android” user an “iPhone” you best believe most of them will either sell their Android immediately or give it away.

The human population is being collected and harvested at an incredible pace, before nightfall only “The Mitchell’s” family is left uncaptured and they come up with a plan to save all the people that have been captured.

With everyone trying to be perfect and seen as some kind of saint the film tries to show us that a little craziness is needed in the world and we don’t need to be perfect, we need only be ourselves.

Though the movie focuses on Katie as the main protagonist, what she isn’t able to see is how much the rest of the family is trying to make it work. Not to mention their dog that can’t see straight lol, watching this dog in every scene try to catch anything is taxing to the eyes lol…

The sense of humor in this film would make anyone with a funny bone shed endless tears of joy, the moment Aaron saw Dino Stop had me in stitches lol, imagine a 9-year-old kid arguing with a grown man about the accuracy of creatures that no one till this day has seen with their naked eyes. Or how about the Posey’s, who have trained for this day leave the store in the most dramatic fashion ever. “Butterfly Formation“

Rick should be arrested for copyright infringement and abusing his wife when he tried to kill her by doing the Posey’s butterfly formation lol, this review is turning out not as I had anticipated but that’s the thing. This film is ridiculously funny. Oh yes, my favorite moment of this film would have to be when they portrayed the consequences of taking a child from their mother, Linda went all Super- Saiyan on those machines. ” I am Linda Mitchell, mother of two, look upon and fear” lol…

The only reason I can think about this film not being amongst nominated for best animation film is due to the lack of marketing and public awareness.

Beautiful craft, even better cast. Relatable to the majority of the audience for both children and parents. I recommend anyone up for a good laugh to watch this film. It’s worth every minute. What a movie.

Thanks for reading…