The Mitchells Vs The Machines (2021)

[Small Man Big Horse]

Animated sci-fi comedy where just before Katie Mitchell was going to leave her annoying twat of a father and the rest of her family and head off to film school a bunch of robots turn evil, as they often like to do. It's a fantastical effort but it bends reality a bit too much sometimes,

Spoiler alert

the way machines like refrigerators and microwaves can move just because they have a PAL chip doesn't make any sense, nor does the existence of a giant Furby and his laser beam weapon, while the various near death experiences and the way the family should have died several times over makes it fairly ridiculous

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. Some of the humour's a little forced too, it's overtly wacky in places, and the moralising is really irritating, all of which is quite frustrating as the film has its moments, some of the animation is nicely playful, Olivia Colman is a great villain and there a good few decent jokes, but due to all of its flaws it's ultimately not something I'll ever love, or even want to date on an occasional basis. 5.6/10

[madhair60]

I agree that the cartoon comedy about robot smartphones stretched believability at times

[Small Man Big Horse]

It's supposed to be set in the real world though, not one where people can survive things which would kill a normal human being. Have you actually seen the film, out of interest?

[Butchers Blind]

It's a cartoon film. Suspend belief.

[Dex Sawash]

Watched the trailer and it looks like The Incredibles Family Vaction

[Small Man Big Horse]

It's a cartoon film. Suspend belief.

There's no sense of peril if they're essentially immortal though. So I shan't! Ever!

[Butchers Blind]

There's no sense of peril if they're essentially immortal though. So I shan't! Ever!

If you want more realistic violence in cartoons I can recommend Invincible on Prime.

[Small Man Big Horse]

If you want more realistic violence in cartoons I can recommend Invincible on Prime.

I was tempted but I've read (and greatly enjoyed) the comics and hear it's a very faithful adaptation which doesn't really expand on them that much, so while I probably will do at one point it won't be for a while.

And it's not like I wanted blood and guts and spines being torn out in TMvsTM, just a feeling that they might occasionally be in danger, and the finale is lacking due to that rarely being the case.

[madhair60]

Have you actually seen the film, out of interest?

yeah thought it was good

[beanheadmcginty]

Is Ross Kemp in this?

[Old Nehamkin]

Not seen this but I really don't think it's unreasonable to expect some sense of meaningful dramatic stakes when you're watching an adventure movie, even if it is an animated one with an outlandish premise. I rewatched the Incredibles the other day which, while also being a cartoon comedy set in a fantastical world, does also make you feel invested in the characters' fates and conveys a real feeling of peril and threat in the situations they are put through, which I think is a good and important thing to do to make this kind of film properly absorbing and entertaining. I am provisionally declaring myself #teamSMBH on this.

[olliebean]

Is it rubbish, then? I was going to give it a go this afternoon, but when I looked it up on Netflix the cover image was so offputting that I decided to give it a miss for now.

[brat-sampson]

I really enjoyed it. Plenty of great jokes, fun to see Olivia Colman doing something a bit different, and I just love the animation mixture/style of this and Spiderverse. It makes all the other big studios look plain and formulaic, regardless of how much more high-budget they appear.

[madhair60]

Is it rubbish, then? I was going to give it a go this afternoon, but when I looked it up on Netflix the cover image was so offputting that I decided to give it a miss for now.

no its good

[Old Nehamkin]

watching paddington going "hope paddington dies"

I do hope he dies!

[madhair60]

i deleted it because i thought it came off as more rude than amusing but i'm glad it's out there. I honestly hope he dies too

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Just watched this and enjoyed it a whole of a lot. The

Spoiler alert

killer fridges

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did stretch credulity a bit far, even for a film as whimsical as this, but it was only a few minutes and it was a funny scene anyway.
That aside, I thought it was very charming and funny. Like the Incredibles crossed with Bob's Burgers. The animation style was maybe not quite as distinctive as Spiderverse, but it was still eye popping stuff.

[olliebean]

Didn't really grab me, and managed to hit three of my pet peeves in the first few minutes (the exciting flash-forward at the start to cover up the fact that nothing very interesting happens for the first 20 minutes of the story, the long expository voice-overed back-story, and the CGI characters all having "that" face). I stuck with it for another 20 minutes or so after the action started, then couldn't be bothered any more.

[bakabaka]

Having driven my lesbian daughter across the country to study animation at university with a toy moose on the dashboard I felt that I had to watch this one. I enjoyed it hugely. It was very true to life.

_{Even if it was entirely centered around my most hated Hollywood cliché- the F word.}

[steveh]

Thought at first it was a bit long for a kids movie, but it does have nine minutes of main credits and another four minutes of international version dubbing credits. (Has anyone done a film set entirely in the credits?)

Wasn't great, wasn't bad, bit of a cop out at the end with the tech CEO and who probably would have been taking the daughter's videos, removing all the attributions and reposting them as his own...

[olliebean]

Oh btw, did anyone think the daughter's animated videos were somewhat influenced by Cyriak?