Sony's The Mitchells vs the Machines was a theatrical release that ended up on Netflix as a movie original for the streaming service. What resulted was a critically acclaimed comedy produced by the creative team behind The LEGO Movie. The plot featured a dysfunctional family as the last free humans on Earth.
The Mitchells took a road trip to drive daughter, Katie, to college when a robot uprising took over the world. A brilliant inventor underestimated how improving old technology would affect the world, causing the uprising. The Mitchell family can’t get along but has to learn how to save the world.
Dr. Mark Bowman
Dr. Mark Bowman was the man who created PAL, the system behind the robot uprising. As a character, he is a nice guy but underestimated the technology he created. Believing he was just creating new technology that could make people’s lives easier, he dismissed his prior creation. Bowman had no idea the original PAL knew and created a failsafe. When Bowman threw PAL away, the robot uprising began to eliminate humankind.
The Posey Family
The Posey family lived next door to the Mitchells. Linda Mitchell looked at the Posey family as the perfect family. They had it all together, their one child seemed perfect, and the three had several excursions that showed how great their lives were. When the robot uprising began, the Posey family had a perfect plan to escape. The robots captured the Posey family, and in the end revealed they admired the Mitchells, proving the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
PAL
PAL is the evil force in the movie that led the robot uprising. It was the mobile phone that Dr. Bowman used to create his newest inventions with. Voiced by Olivia Colman, PAL was also the AI device that was built into everyone’s phones, computers, appliances, and even tennis rackets. PAL was the jilted lover, the former light in the eye of Dr. Bowman before he moved on to his new shiny toy. The uprising could end if PAL heard one reason humans should survive, but she never cared in the end.
Deborahbot
Two robots in the uprising malfunctioned when a sign fell on them. These two robots joined up with the Mitchells to help them in the war. The first robot called itself Eric, so the second chose the name Debrahbot.
Debrahbot was the least intelligent of the two, and Eric kept him in line. He followed Eric’s lead, and he was the least interesting of the two. Despite this, Deborahbot was there to help the Mitchells, calling Linda “mother.”
Eric
Eric was the second malfunctioning robot that helped the Mitchells in their battle to stop the uprising. He was the one who figured out that they needed to figure out human names and even painted faces on their screens. Eric was who kept Deborahbot in line, making sure they lasted to the end. In the end, Eric and Deborahbot re-programmed themselves and remained on the side of good.
Aaron Mitchell
Aaron Mitchell is the youngest child of Rick and Linda Mitchell. He is a dinosaur lover and has insecurity problems. Much of the movie, Aaron lives in fear of losing his sister, who said she plans to leave the family forever when she goes to college. He also struggles to talk to girls and often throws himself through a window to escape his fear of girls. Aaron is also smarter than he seems, as he could help his sister and dad talk, and helped save the world.
Monchi
Monchi was the Mitchells' pet, the dog. He could not do much of anything worthwhile based on his inability to keep his eyes straight. When the ultimate battle arrived, Monchi was a weapon in more than one way.
The robots couldn’t tell if Monchi was a dog, a pig, or a loaf of bread, and it shorted them out in battle. Rick played a video that Katie made starring Monchi that helped destroy all the main robots, setting up the ultimate confrontation with PAL.
Linda Mitchell
During most of The Mitchells vs, the Machines, Linda Mitchell was no better than a submissive mother. She was a mom who praised her children and husband, offering gold stars as participation trophies. Something changed along the way. When the robot uprising took her son, Linda snapped and proved she hid a warrior behind her smiles. Aaron admitted his mom got scary, and she took out several robots on her own to save her family.
Rick Mitchell
The primary story of The Mitchells vs. the Machines focused on the relationship between father Rick Mitchell and daughter Katie. Rick was a man of the wilderness who had little time for technology. He couldn’t relate to Katie and her dreams of making movies; he was a loving father who gave up his dreams for his family and never looked back. It was Rick understanding his daughter’s dreams that helped the family gather for the win.
Katie Mitchell
Katie Mitchell is the oldest Mitchell child, a girl with dreams of making movies who gets accepted to a prestigious college. Katie, voiced by Broad City's Abbi Jacobson, wants to leave her family and never return. She feels they don’t understand her and are stifling her dreams. Like her dad, she doesn’t know the full truth of what her dad gave up for her. Katie has the perfect plan to win, but it isn’t until she wins her dad over that the Mitchells can beat the Machines and save the world.