Review of The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021) by Theredsky — 07 May 2021

An absolute blast of a film. I went in with moderate expectations but came out thoroughly impressed. This has a great visual style provided by the same people behind The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.

The animation style pops and feels unique compared to other animated films which I liked. I also love how the animation was used to incorporate comedy because the film is pretty hilarious. If you don’t enjoy subtle pop culture references then you might not like the comedy but I think the set up and punchline of almost every joke worked.

They even pause the film at times to make a joke which worked sometimes and other times it kinda deflated the tension but it didn’t bother me that much. A lot of these story beats feel very similar which is a common complain I hear and I do kinda agree with it.

There really wasn’t a lot story and thematically wise that surprised me but I still like it because the writing is great. While the basic story threads are predictable, the circumstances are nice and refreshing with a take over the world kind of story.

It was a fun take on a story that can be seen as predictable. I thought the emotional beats the film laid out hit a lot and some of it hit different for me as I am also going away to film school just like the main character.

The characters all feel very fun and refreshing and I liked their little arcs that they went through and the voice cast did a great job as well with it. If you are a fan of animation then you will love this film.

I would highly recommend checking it out.