Okay that was fucking hilarious.  Some thoughts: 1. Katie, drop the Letterboxd.  2. The robots explaining the flight was peak comedy 3. “It’s not illegal if you’re good at it” is a goated line 4. That whole Furby scene is insane 5. The mom turning into a Kill Bill character is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen That was so much fun.

This one took me a little while to finish. I can see the hype for it. It really is well done and it’s funny to see Danny McBride lend his voice to a kids movie knowing his comedic roles. My only issue is that it is almost too quirky. It was off putting and made it hard to watch sometimes.

[7.5/10] As Homer Simpsons once put it, “I’m a white male, aged 18-49. Everyone listens to me, no matter how dumb my suggestions are.” Falling into the same category, I’m used to the vast majority of pop culture being accessible or relatable in some way, whether they be giant blockbusters, prestige cinema, or loopy kids films. That is undoubtedly privilege, to walk in with the expectation that most, if not all, mainstream media is meant to be something you at least *could* appreciate. And I do appreciate *The Mitchells vs. the Machines*, a tale of family togetherness mixed in with a tale of the robot uprising. An impromptu family road trip to take protagonist and budding filmmaker Katie Mitchells to college is already suffused with tension with her skeptical, practical, technology-hesitant dad. But Katie, her dad, her mom, her little brother, and her pet pug must band together when PAL, a jilted digital assistant angry that the Silicon Valley CEO who created her has now discarded her, plots to use the company’s robots to rid Earth of humanity and take over the world. The combination of mechanical mayhem and intergenerational understanding succeeds with its creativity and standard, if reasonably affecting beats. But it’s also a move that feels like it exists on either side of me. I’m not a “digital naitve” like Katie, who was born in the throes of the social media boom and shares, edits, and lives online as easy as breathing. I’m also not a device-doubting, technologically inept parent whose coming-of-age predated the rise of the Internet and who doesn’t really understand or appreciate it. There’s nothing wrong with either role, but their conflict is founded on those different perspectives, and the way that father and daughter find common ground and mutual understanding despite them. If you’re not standing on either side of the river, it’s hard to be invested in the bridge built to connect them. That’s not to say the film doesn’t touch on some universal themes. Katie thinks her dad just doesn’t understand, cannot appreciate her art, and is constantly raining on her parade. Her dad thinks she’s pinning her future on pie-in-the-sky artistic dreams and doesn’t have a good back-up plan. Despite the specific generational touchstones, that’s something plenty of parents and kids can relate too. The film pays the conflict off well too. Katie learns that the reason for her dad’s concerns is that he too once had an artistic dream, one that he gave up so that he could help support and love her, something he doesn’t regret but does make Katie wanting to leave him behind completely sting all the more. And when her dad sits down and really watches one of her videos, he understands the way Katie believes he’s not there for her or won’t support or trust her, helping him to see her perspective and give her the boost and faith she needs to succeed. It’s the sort of mutual understanding where the other is coming from that parent/child-focused kids films are made of. Along the way, the movie has plenty of clevers setups and payoffs. The dad’s obsession with a particular type of screwdriver turns out to be the key to escaping from the robots’ cages. The androids’ brains being scrambled over whether the Mitchells’ pug is a dog or a pig becomes Katie’s defense mechanism when venturing to the machines’ stronghold. A lesson on how to drive a stick shift turns into the special maneuver necessary to evade the swarming bots. And a little carved moose statuette is the symbol that connects the father’s dreams, with his daughter’s summer camp fears, to their fractured relationship in the beginning, and restored bond when he sends her off to college. I may have trouble finding a personal connection to it, but this is a sound script, that ably hits the right notes and sets up its landing spots well, be they narrative or emotional. Part of the problem is that the movie is in a state of being constantly hyperactive. Even those calmer, more emotional moments tend to be brief blips before the film is onto another frenetic setpiece or dose of wacky comic interludes. It seems designed for kids who can’t pay attention to anything longer than five seconds, with a frantic pace, a madcap energy, and a whirlwind of color and movement that feels less like an orchestrated ballet and more like a disorganized riot. Charitably, that approach aligns with the spirit of the film, which honors the Mitchells as a quirky, disheveled, but ultimately authentic and lovable family despite their rough edges. There are, in fact, a few creative set pieces like an attack from a heap of possessed Furbies (something that *does* appeal to crusty Millennials like yours truly) and an exciting roadside chase. But the blender-with-its-top-off mishmash of stop-motion-esque character designs, CGI animated fluidity, traditional animation word bubbles and reactions, and random injections of other mixed media give the film a schizophrenic quality. Nothing here has time to breathe, aesthetically or narratively, before *The Mitchells vs. the Machines* is pelting its audience with whatever the next thing is. Its heart is in the right place, though. I’m not made of stone. I felt my heartstrings pulled when Mr. Mitchell watched the home movies of how the daughter now pushing him away once reached for him as her best friend. I melted a little when Katie had her parallel moment of seeing a home movie where her dad walked away from his forest-focused fantasy without hesitation so he could be her dad. The college-bound farewell when Katie affirms that she doesn’t need to leave home to find her people, because her family members *are* her people is wholesome and sweet. This is not some empty dose of fluff, but a movie with a legitimate emotional core, dramatizing its themes with creativity, and centering them around an outsized version of the intergenerational disconnect over devices and practicality. It’s just not really intended for *my* generation. That is okay! Each new crop of kids and parents deserves their own movies that speak to them and their needs specifically. While some fantastical or ahistorical family films are a little more broadly accessible, there’s something to be said for making something that speaks to the here and now, with the hope that nudniks like me will appreciate the broad strokes, if not necessarily the specific dynamics that *The Mitchells vs. the Machines* is founded on. And that I do. But as someone who isn’t really a Katie or a Mr. Mitchell, it’s a move I can appreciate, but which doesn’t move me the way it may for others closer to their roles and outlooks. Such is my burden, to only be able to enjoy the other 99.9% of mainstream entertainment intended for me and my ilk. Somehow, I’ll survive, and parents and children closer to the Mitchells can have something just for them.

This is what happens when the family in <i>Little Miss Sunshine</i> becomes relatable and has to fight off robotic phones. The story itself isn't particularly out of ordinary but adding meme culture to the big screen, debuting the first queer main character in a major studio animation, scrapping the stigma around A.I and putting the blame on the Big Tech's immoral practies and genuinely cherishing the crew and showcasing their background in the ending credits, makes this a refreshing departure from the redundancy of other big studio hits. <b> × Best Line: </b>I'm here to bust criminals and lick my own butt. And I'm all out of criminals.

Could not take it seriously with the robots' abilities that don't even exist in the year in which this was set, let alone the slew of appliances with "PAL Chip installed" that could do _completely_ ridiculous things. Not one of these devices should have been able to pose a threat, unless they were intentionally manufactured with features that would never apply to any intended use of the product.\* I can ignore little details that are embellished or ignored for the purpose of telling a better story, but when _the entire premise_ of a film _set in the present_ rests on impossible and unrealistic technology? Pass. Even better, no one thought of just… finding another PAL retail store when the mall's router was destroyed with the upload at 98% complete? This film's entire spectacle rests on its characters' poor decision-making and lack of forethought—including the defective robots that join the gang and tell them about the solution. I'll admit that the story is _a bit_ heartwarming, but it's nothing new. It's also trying too hard regarding commentary on the influence of technology in today's world. Several lines of dialogue are _extremely_ heavy-handed, as if the writers expect the audience to understand nothing and need to have the "moral" of the story handed to them. Ugh. I _wanted_ to love it. At least I can steal some playlist entries from the soundtrack. ---- \* — See: Furbies that spit plasma beams, laptops that could close on your hands and crush them, refrigerators that walk… I could go on and on about that mall scene.

Katie is queer! She wears a rainbow pin and is dating a girl by the end. Good representation normalizing the queer community.