Movie Genre: Comedy/Sci-fi/Animation
Publish Year: 2021
Movie length: Approximately 2 Hours
The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a modern animated comedy film that shares the great heroic and hilarious journey of the Mitchell family’s road trip or robot apocalypse. This film is full of heartwarming moments that capture the greatest of a family bond as well as the troubles. The Mitchell family is described as an abnormal family in the beginning, but throughout the movie, you begin to relate to their family similar to your own. To recap the closeness of the family’s bond, the Mitchells family goes through challenging moments that change their family. The family shares moments that test their trust, faith, and teamwork. They overcome obstacles with a puzzle-like mindset and the ingenuity of Katie’s imagination which results in them saving the world from being controlled by an evil AI.
This film shares the connection of a family coming together, with inspiration, humor, and an emotional journey that lets you know we are all unique and be our own kind of superhero. It also shares the value of how uniqueness can all be an important part of teamwork. The movie’s design work is something you can truly enjoy watching on Netflix with friends and family. It’s a must-watch if you love animation and great storytelling.
The Story of Mitchells vs AI

Katie Mitchell is a girl with a passion for film who wants to pursue her dream to study film in California. The story starts with Katie trying to show the creative film she made to her family, but it leads to an argument as she is left not being understood. This scenario changes the atmosphere between the family members as she seeks to leave and possibly never return after college. Her dad, trying to fix the situation, came up with the idea of having a Mitchell family road trip to reconnect with his daughter Katie. However, Katie was upset because she wanted to meet her friends who “understand” her.
In the meantime, a tech owner who created PAL, an advanced AI, that as every robotic uprising takes control and begins to capture humans around the globe. The Mitchells were lucky to escape from the attack due to their road trip and in a lucky turn of events encounter two defective robots that follow human orders. The robots disclose there is a kill code to destroy PAL.


The Mitchell family is tasked as the only last free humans to save the world. Their differences set about an internal conflict that they must overcome in order to come together to beat PAL. The disorganized Mitchell family ends up with only one last decision to go to Silicon Valley and destroy PAL at her source…the smartphone. Their internal differences will push them to their breaking point as a family, but those bonds aren’t so easily broken if you’re an abnormal family. Katie and her father, Rick Mitchell, end up overcoming their differences by finding their similarities. As Katie and Rick reconnect their strong family bonds and the Mitchell family grows closer together the robot army doesn’t stand a chance. The hilarious scenarios and great portrayal of our modern reality’s dependency on technology yet its importance is what carries this movie beyond others. The abnormal Mitchell Family in the end becomes the great heroes of the world, but in more important part is their understanding of each other.
What Can We Learn From The Film?

The Mitchells vs The Machine movie connects with its viewers the most through the depiction of a disjointed family that almost if not everybody has experienced some form of in their life. It also shares with us the impact of technology in today’s world, especially in the connection between our relatives and closest family and friends. We learn that each family member has their own “language” or way they interact with each other. For instance, Aaron Mitchell can’t stop talking about dinosaurs, while Rick Mitchell always talks about his hands-on experience with the world and manual work. Katie is the drastic opposite of her father being an avid learner and creator in a technological world. This contrast is what forces the two characters into direct conflict, but are forced to change to adapt to each other for the better. The movie is a great example of how even though people may be different or bring their own uniqueness these qualities are what is important.
The movie also has an underlying if not co-pilot of the use of technology in our world today. Every appliance and machine we use is being connected in some way. We are encouraged to consume and consume technology to what extent. The Mitchell family as well as their neighbors The Possey’s show the negative impacts of social media. One of the great parts of the film is the use of PAL and its designer Mark Bowman laughing about corporate overreach or hacking into people’s data. It’s a shocking but truthful reality that we are so accepting of these norms. At the same time, these devices and technology can be harmful, it has brought some incredible change and creativity to the world. There are many gifted people who have used these devices to connect and bring real positive change to people’s lives. It is this balance that we must find between reality, creativity, and technology that is important.

Throughout this film, we realize what we missed, cherish, and even need to improve on ourselves. We take time to reflect, reset and focus on what matters to us. We have a deeper understanding of humanity, hard work, kindness, outlook for the future, and how we can try to live our best in times like this. We strive and not give up on our goals, dreams, and life.
This film is a great animated comedy-adventure movie to enjoy and allows you to look at life through a creative lens. It is a heartwarming film that is great to watch together with your loved ones or friends.
