Tons of great animated movies come out each year, but 2021 saw the release of one of the decade’s best, and it still hasn’t gotten a sequel. Animated movies are seeing a significant increase in quality in the 2020s compared to the 2010s, with this being due to several factors. The increasing prevalence of overseas cinema, studios’ willingness to try out different animated art styles, and streaming services giving homes to risky original ideas are three major factors that have contributed to this trend.
In previous decades, Disney and DreamWorks were the two big animated powerhouses, with outlets like Don Bluth and Blue Sky acting as small competitors that occasionally released films. However, things have changed significantly. Disney’s 2020s movies are being received more poorly than in previous decades, while DreamWorks films like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and The Wild Robot are making waves. Meanwhile, Sony Pictures Animation is getting just as big as Disney and DreamWorks, as is shown by films like the Spider-Verse movies and KPop Demon Hunters. Streaming services like Netflix and Hulu are also releasing their own animated films, some of which are just as big as the theatrical ones.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines is one of the most critically acclaimed animated movies of the 2020s, and it was released five years ago today. The film was released on Netflix on April 30, 2021, with it coming from Sony Pictures Animation. Originally, the film was set to get a theatrical release in 2020 and was set to have the title Connected. However, the COVID-19 Pandemic delayed this, with Sony eventually deciding to release it on streaming. Ahead of its Netflix release, the title was switched back to The Mitchells vs. the Machines, which was the original title chosen by director Mike Rianda and writer Jeff Rowe.
The film tells the story of the Mitchell family, led by Katie, the daughter who is heading to California for film school, and Rick, the father who hates technology and feuds with his daughter. After a major fight, Rick decides that a cross-country roadtrip to Katie’s college will bring the family back together. While on the drive, a rogue AI takes control of Earth’s robots and commands them to capture all humans. Luckily, the Mitchells encounter two defective robots who give them an AI kill code, leading them to go on an adventure through the robot apocalypse.
The Mitchells vs. the Machines was a major critical hit, with it getting great reviews across the board. The film currently holds a 97% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 90% audience score, proving that it is beloved by both groups. It was also a streaming hit for Netflix, with the company reporting that it was watched by 53 million households in its first 28 days and that it was one of Netflix’s most-watched animated projects at the time.
The film also had a major hand in rehabilitating the image of its production company. Throughout the 2010s, Sony Pictures Animation had a bad reputation due to a string of bad movies like the Hotel Transylvania sequels, Smurfs: The Lost Village, Surf’s Up 2: WaveMania, and the baffling decision to cancel Genndy Tartakovsky’s Popeye movie in favor of The Emoji Movie.
The quality of 2019’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was completely out of nowhere, with it easily outshining the last decade of Sony Pictures Animation’s movies. While it could have been a one-off fluke, The Mitchells vs. the Machines followed Spider-Verse up, proving that the studio had made a change. Since then, Sony’s releases have been consistently higher-quality, with movies like Wish Dragon, Vivo, Across the Spider-Verse, and Goat proving this.
Although a The Mitchells vs. the Machines sequel hasn’t happened yet, one is coming. A sequel was confirmed by Netflix in October 2025, after years of waiting (via Variety). The film will be directed by Guillermo Martinez and JP Sans and written by the Molyneux sisters, and hopefully, it will live up to the quality of the first film.
Very little is known about the story of The Mitchells vs. the Machines 2, but it seems likely that it will bring back the original’s robot apocalypse storyline in some way. The previous film ended with PAL being destroyed and the evil robots being deactivated, but it is possible that a new villain could cause them to return, interrupting another one of the Mitchells’ road trips.
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