Film: The Mitchells vs the Machines- Animation Reimagined

The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021)
DIRECTOR: Michael Rianda
FEATURING: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Olivia Coleman

I resisted watching this for a long time. I wanted The Goonies or Jaws or Raiders of the Lost Ark for Friday Film Club night. “I’m over cartoon films,” I told myself. “Pixar’s Onward was a fluke.” How wrong was I?

Standing corrected, I can now fully admit that I am not over cartoon films and as such, I can’t quite remember having this much fun in front of the TV since, well, Pixar’s Onward.

The Mitchells vs the Machines is easily the best animated feature of the year, and could and should me be mentioned in the same breath as The Goonies or Onward or Toy Story.

It isn’t every day (or even every decade) that a film can make you laugh or cry with equal assurance. TMVTM is such a film and the fact that it’s about Armageddon makes it all the more appealing.

During a road trip with her family, young Katie Mitchell realises her plans to attend film school may well be in tatters when all the world’s electronic devices come to life with a mission to end humankind.

Suddenly the Mitchells are the last family on Earth and it’s up to them to stop the machines and save the world.

What sounds like a bleak tableau is actually a romping adventure with lashings of absurd humour, excitement and heart. Just as Toy Story made ever other animated feature feel old hat, TMVTM makes you look at animation with renewed appreciation.

It’s so fresh (think Scott Pilgrim’s mania) and so dashing (think Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse’s action) and so unexpectedly charming (think A Bug’s Life’s magic), that it’s impossible to watch without a massive smile on your face (when you aren’t choking back the tears).

Wildly entertaining, the film also has at its heart a message for the world: We are all individuals and we are all indispensable.

Utterly brilliant!