Movie Reviews
BY CHRISTOPHER STAMM
GUEST movie REVIEWER
The Mitchells vs the Machines (Streaming on Netflix)
Rated PG – For what I would guess would be some violence. This is one the entire family can enjoy together.
Now streaming on Netflix, Sony’s newest entry into the animated genre, The Mitchells vs the Machines, is a delightfully tweaked addition to the current golden age of animation.
Funny and full of heart, this one is not to be missed.
The Mitchells are that family – a little odd, no, wait, a lot odd, and absolutely fine with being so. Rick Mitchell (voiced by Danny McBride) is a man who is out of place in the modern age. He does not use computers of any kind and is more at home in the woods. His eldest daughter, Katie (Abbi Jacobson), is an outcast at school for her unique personality, and dreams of being a filmmaker. And the youngest Mitchell, Aaron, is obsessed with dinosaurs. Rounding out the Mitchells is mother, Linda (Maya Rudolph), who is desperately trying to get her husband and daughter to reconnect.
Katie is leaving for college, and Dad decides, to Katie’s great dismay, that the whole clan, with their cockeyed dog, Monchi the Pug, in tow, will drive her cross country in an attempt to reconnect.
Of course, this puts the Mitchells on the road just as a computer program named PAL (Olivia Coleman) decides that humanity is of no use and has decided to take over the earth.
And, of course, humanity’s future is in the hands of a wonderfully flawed and deeply tweaked family, the Mitchells and Monchi the Pug.
From start to finish, this film is deeply entertaining and has a lot of heart. PIXAR has for years owned the animated film category with their phenomenal films, but now Sony has created a film to give them a run for their money.
Rated five out of five stars, because it is thoroughly entertaining for everyone, and that’s hard to come by these days.