THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Families aren't perfect, but that's okay because they don't have to be.
PLOT
The Mitchells vs the Machines, formerly known as Connected, follows the titular family that follow patriarch Rick, his wife Linda, their oldest daughter Katie, the young son Aaron and the family pug Monchi, all of which live in Kentwood, Michigan. Katie aspires to be a filmmaker and as she got older, she would often clash with her technophobic father, who never supported her dreams. Because of that, she anticipates leaving her home when getting accepted to a film school in California. Not wanting to strain their relationship for good, Rick tries to make things right by cancelling her plane ticket and orchestrate a family road trip, hoping to regain their bond. Meanwhile, technology entrepreneur Mark Bowman (Eric Andre) updates his AI Pal to Pal Max robots. They are quickly reprogrammed by the original program of Pal and plans to capture all humans and send them to space, as an act of revenge after being declared obsolete by Mark. In Kansas, the Mitchells are able to avoid being captured at a road stop café. While Rick considers to keep hiding, Katie convinces him that they should save the world. She only does this for her own personal gain, as she wishes to be away from him once she gets to college. She only tells this to Aaron in private. The family meets two defective robots that name themselves Eric and Deborahbot 5000, and admit that there is a kill code that can shut down Pal. They all head to a mall in Colorado to upload the kill code, but get attacked by appliances with a Pal chip, including a giant Furby. They are able to survive by destroying the mall’s Pal router, but disabling the devices also prevented the kill code from being uploaded. This means that the Mitchells and the bots must head to Silicon Valley to upload it directly to Pal. On the way there, Linda shares with Kate that Rick used to live in a cabin he built in the mountains, but chose to give up on it. When they reach headquarters, the family disguise themselves as Pal Max bots to sneak in. Just when they get to the lair, Pal manipulates tension between them by revealing surveillance of Katie admitting to Aaron that she had no faith in Rick before their adventure progressed. Although Katie has shown to feel different about her dad, his heartbreak gets the attention of Pal, causing him and Linda to be captured by a second form of robots known as ‘Pal Max Prime’. Eric and Deborah get reprogrammed to obey, while Katie and Aaron escape with Monchi. As the siblings watch videos from their family camera, as an act of reminiscing everything they’ve been through, Katie discovers that Rick gave up the cabin for her to have a better life. This inspires her to make things right and plan to rescue their parents. As Rick is captured, he sees one of Kate’s movies and realizes he was wrong to doubt her accomplishing her dreams. His kids are able to infiltrate the HQ by using Monchi to short circuit Pal Max bots, as his appearance causes an error in their programming. He and Linda are able to break free from confinement on their own. The new plan is to upload a home movie of Monchi that’ll short circuit all the bots at once. As Linda fights off the Prime bots, Rick tries to upload the video on his own before getting outnumbered by Max bots. However, Eric and Deborah go rogue in order to save him, reverting back to their malfunctioning states. Katie does confront Pal and tries to justify saving humanity, but is unable to persuade the program. At this point, the family bands together to fend off against the Prime bots. Katie does reach the cellphone containing the main program of Pal and when she confiscates it, she aims to throw it into a pool nearby. Instead, it bounces off of Monchi, into a glass of water. This destroys Pal and disables every bot except Eric and Deborah, while also freeing the imprisoned humans. A few months after the uprising, the human race is able to recover from the turn of events. Katie does get to go to the film school in California, but is now in the same page with Rick. The film ends with her joining her family on a road trip to Washington DC, to accept the Congression Gold Medal.
THOUGHTS
As Netflix released movies every week in 2021, it was easy to miss the slew of films that came out. It was easier for me to miss this one at first because I had no idea it was renamed. When I finally got around making time for it, it was worth its own set of delays because this was an absolute blast to get through. Directors/Writers Jeff Rowe & Mike Rianda were able to make a film that is purely fun and exciting, which is what movies are all about. Every joke and gag lands, having myself laugh throughout. It’s hard to have a straight face to the robots mistaking Monchi as bread, that entire mall sequence or the various filters that appear throughout. Aside from its fantastic animation, this movie works because with ease, it succeeds in teaching viewers to appreciate the families we have. Whatever the struggle and no matter how different you are from one another, you will always be connected. You’ll never understand each other if you’re not seeing where you’re coming from, vice versa. As long as we respect each other’s views and decisions, then we’ll always be on the same page. This is what the titular family goes through and seeing them do it inspires us to put that same amount of effort with my own. Each member in the family are able to stand out thanks to being portrayed by an awesome voice cast. Abbi Jackson accurately portrays Katie as a young woman whose creativity as a filmmaker comes from her imagination. The filters that we see are a result of what she would do with her own films. She bickered with her dad because she didn’t understand his perspective how he was looking out for her. Once she found out that he sold the cabin for her, she finally respected the greatest sacrifice he ever made. Seeing her keep his moose solidifies how she’ll always appreciate him from then on. Danny McBride is a goddamn delight in the role of Rick, who prefers nature over technology, being the polar opposite to his family. Opposites attract, which explains why he gets along with his wife so well. The man is an artist of his own right because building the cabin was his greatest accomplishment. He always bickered with his daughter because he didn’t understand that making films was it’s own dimension of art and he never supported her because he didn’t want her to be crushed if she didn’t succeed. So when he saw one of her films, noticing the reflection of their relationship, he understood that he was in the wrong as well. It may be traumatizing for him to use a computer, but it’s heartwarming to see his attempt to make his daughter happy. It represents how he is now looking forward after spending so long looking back. I adore how their greatest bond is by listening to the song ‘Live Your Life’ by TI and Rihanna because it represents their equal perspective that enjoying the little things in the present are what make life special. Maya Rudolph was downright awesome as well when playing Linda, one who loves her family equally and gets where everyone is coming from. She is slightly insecure to herself due to how her neighbors, the Poseys, are not chaotic compared to her family. But that feeling disappears because by the time the journey ends, she accepts that being different is good. I was laughing a lot when she sat in a massage chair during the mall attack, but I lost my mind when she summoned ‘ultra mom instincts’ to fight the Prime bots. It works because it is bound for someone to unleash their breaking point. I also respect her for not helping Rick too much with the computer because he has to learn on his own, so that it’s more meaningful to their daughter. As an actor, Rianda brought the right amount of energy to play the adorable Aaron. He is so for being just as outgoing as his sister, not being ashamed of his interest which is dinosaurs. It’s even relatable to see him freak out when interacting with his crush Abbey Posey (Charlyne Yi) because as a kid, it’s not easy to be yourself in front of someone you like. This helps make it funnier whenever he runs into a wall or through a window. While this family are what make the movie memorable, there were other characters that stir up the pot so well. Olivia Colman makes Pal a more memorable villain than anticipated because she was so convincing when going from polite to rageful. Her rejection made her disillusioned that humanity is not worth saving. Her perspective makes sense because that tells us to not take things for granted, or it’ll come back to haunt you. And I know for sure that I’m not the only one when I say her death is funnier than it should be. I laugh of how convenient it was for the glass of water to be at the table, but then I’m losing it when the screaming gibbon monkey filter plays in between her screams for dear life. It’s funnier than the time it plays over Rick. Last but not least, I thought that Fred Armisen & Beck Bennett were a great dynamic duo when respectively playing Deborah and Eric. Seeing them go from dangerous to clumsy/gullible was such a treat I didn’t think this movie needed. They are truly unsung heroes of their own right because had they not known of the kill code, the world would’ve been doomed. What I do learn from them as well is that being different is good because that’s how you know you are your true self. I’m gonna love this movie with all my heart, but it doesn’t excuse that even a great film like this had its own set of issues. I know not every kid has the same interest, which is what you see when the fourth graders watch Katie’s movie Dial B for Burger, but I’m shook that it’s literally the whole class that wasn’t impressed. It’s a movie about a burger, at least one kid other than Katie should be into that. It is funny that every Mitchell except Rick is addicted to technology, which is what separates them drastically, but why does it take so long for him to set the rule of no screens at the table when he had the sign on the door for so long? He should be confiscating those devices every chance he has. And why would the Mitchells keep the bad pictures framed? I understand that the little things matter, but it’s hard to appreciate it if they’re not good. I respect Linda for telling Rick to patch things with Katie, but she should know he is out of line for making her miss the college’s orientation week. This is the excuse that sets them up to save the world, but whichever family would be possible to do it, Rick should’ve thought of other things than enforcing a road trip. And why would Mark sweet talk Pal before throwing her away? That’s like asking to be overthrown. You guys know I hate continuity errors, so you bet how tripped out I was seeing a water fountain run on its own. I’m glad that the family survives the first Pal attack, but I‘m disappointed that there is not a single scratch on them. I don’t want them to get hurt, but they’re not invincible, especially when Rick causes them to crash at Pal’s headquarters. Also, how was Katie behind on the news of the invasion? I get that she likely isn’t into the news, but since she uses her phone a lot, it’s not like she wouldn’t notice a headline or one video of it on social media. And why did the family bring their screwdrivers? Yeah you could say it would be making Rick happy, but there is no way they would’ve known it’d be useful. I honestly imagine Linda naturally bringing it, but I feel like Aaron would’ve forgot and Katie would leave it intentionally. I do think the mall scene is funny, but my brain starts melting of trying to find a reason for Pal to control home products and sports equipment. I refuse to believe there is elevation when putting an electric chip in a tennis racket. And using them to attack doesn’t make sense because if Pal figured out the Mitchells would go to the mall, she could’ve just used Pal Max bots to swarm that place. On top of that, it wasn’t wise for Katie to use the laptop to fight back because that could’ve damaged the laptop completely and closing it would’ve paused the upload. It is still funny that the Mitchells even disguise themselves as Pal Max bots, but how the hell did Rick fit into his? I don’t want to judge his weight, but I’m shook that no other bot noticed how different he is compared to others, whereas Katie and Linda luckily blend in. And lastly, why would there be a ledge along the prison cubes? It’s not like either Pal bot would check up on any human prisoner. Ignore all of this and you’ll still have a blast. In short, The Mitchells vs the Machines is the best animated movie of 2021 for being a hilarious adventure that brought families together in this trying time. If you have Netflix and are in dying need of a laugh, see this movie now.
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