Aspiring teen filmmaker Katie Mitchell (Abbi Jacobson) is counting down the days until she can ditch her family for film school in L.A. Her over-the-top mom Linda (Maya Rudolph) and outdoor enthusiast dad Rick (Danny McBride) mean well, but don\u2019t really get her. Katie does bond with her dinosaur-obsessed little brother Aaron (Rianda), who helps her make goofy YouTube videos starring the family\u2019s pug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In an effort to bond after a rough argument, Rick mounts a family road trip to drive Katie to college. While Katie tries to turn the whole thing into a series of viral videos, and Linda enviously scrolls through their neighbors\u2019 family photos on instagram, the robot apocalypse occurs. As the rest of humanity is enslaved by a rogue AI called Pal (Olivia Colman), the bickering Mitchells have to put aside their differences–and their technology–to save the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Mitchells vs. the Machines<\/em> is told through Katie\u2019s perspective, and the animation feels in tune with her fast-paced style, characterized by the kind of quick-hit visuals and humor that dominated the internet in the 2000s (a choice also attributable to Rowe and Rianda\u2019s experience on the cult-hit animated series Gravity Falls<\/em>), with cuts to inserts of kitten filters or animal videos to describe how Katie feels about her family. At one point, she stumbles across a home video of her toddler self dancing with Rick to T.I. and Rihanna\u2019s \u201cLive Your Life,\u201d complete with its \u201cNuma Numa\u201d-sampled intro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That approach could seem annoying (and honestly, for those who came of age before 2005, it probably will) were it not for Rianda and Rowe\u2019s deft use of those aesthetics to communicate the ways our relationship with technology keeps us from genuine engagement. Katie\u2019s family doesn\u2019t understand her because so much of her personality is filtered through pop culture artifice. Linda feels inadequate because her understanding of family is influenced by posed social media pictures. Rick, a techno-phobe, doesn\u2019t know how to engage with Katie because her interests are foreign to him, so he doesn\u2019t consider her dreams legitimate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Mitchells vs. The Machines<\/em> carries its considerable energy through a surprisingly long runtime. The breakneck pace might be too much for some viewers, but the reasoning behind it is sound. Its wild attitude accompanies heartwarming themes about family, parenthood, and growing up that never get overshadowed for the sake of gags. If nothing else, the movie understands the generational divide between kids who live their lives extremely online, and parents who do not. Rianda and Rowe never judge one way or the other, but suggest there are benefits both in creatively connecting with others from a distance, and staying present with the people who are right in front of us. ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/mitchells2-1024x562.jpg\")
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