The Mitchells vs the Machines

When this film was first announced and I saw the trailer, I was convinced it would be a failure. I wasn't a fan of the trailers and the character designs just looked weird. Then Netflix bought the film and I wasn't planning to watch it but I saw the reviews and reactions and decided to give it a shot and wow was I was wrong about the film.

Starting with the positives, I just loved this families dynamic and chemistry upon one another. They're marketed as the world most dysfunctional family but they feel like a real life family who are working through their differences and have their own uniqueness about each other.

I also really liked the voice cast. I'm not a Danny McBride or Maya Rudolph but they did really well in their voice roles as did the actors who played the children of the film.

And as this is an animated film, it would be a crime not to mention the animation and it is just beautiful to look at. The use of colour in this film is just gorgeous and is used very efficiently in the film especially with some action sequences and although I didn't like how the family were designed in the trailer, it worked for the film because it helped signify who they were and how they were developed.

But the thing that makes this film absolutely work on a story level and character level is the theme. This film follows the theme of family and although you can argue that theme has been used for a lot of films, this film finds a way to use that theme to tell a different kind of story. A story that a lot of people can relate to and story that will hit home for a lot of people. This is ultimately a story about reconnecting with family and rediscovering your love for them and prior to the events of last year, I think this story will emotionally connect with viewers.

And finally, despite people assuming this will be your everyday kids film, the theme and story makes this film suitable for the general target demographic. This is a film that knows its target audience and yes while generally being a kids film, I believe this film will be liked, possibly loved by people of ages but most importantly by families.

But despite all my positives and appreciation for this film, I did have some problems so let's move onto the negatives. First things first and this is purely a nitpick, I don't like the title of the film. I preferred the original title of Connected because it kind of connects with the themes of film. The Mitchells vs the machines just sounds too on the nose.

But to be honest, my only real negative is there are certain moments in this film that are extremely predictable and you can see coming a mile away.

That's it. That's all my issues. I really enjoyed this film and I will be looking forward to rewatching it. This is a near perfect film and I highly recommend it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐