In this dark cinema age of reboots and live-actions, movies with fresh new concepts have been a rarity. Sure, there’s been a handful of memorable films to come out in the past year or so, but they are few and far between.

That is precisely where The Mitchells vs. The Machines comes into play. A delightfully entertaining and funny animated comedy, this film provides a good roughly 2 hours of distraction for the entire family. The film itself is gorgeous, with a smooth and unique animation style that is pleasant on the eyes, slightly reminiscent of Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse. (In fact, The Mitchells vs. The Machines shares producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller with Spider-Man, whom which both helped direct.) The plot is entertaining in its criticism of technology’s increasing intrusiveness in our lives with its big bad guy ‘Pal,’ a clear imitation of Amazon’s Alexa. The movie manages to balance its technological post-apocalypse setting with its main theme of family dysfunction nicely; a mix that could have been disastrous had it not been pulled off well.

While the plot itself is fine, it is with the characters that the film truly shines, however. The main character Katie is energetic and realistically flawed, and her relationship to her younger brother is quite heartwarming, and the conflict over her growing maturity with her and her father is one that many people can relate to. The younger brother, Aaron absolutely steals the show and appears to be the glue of the family, acting as the intermediator (alongside the mother) between Katie and her father. Rick, the father, was endearing in how desperately he wanted to connect the growing rift between him and Katie. He was a sympathetic character, one that you could tell simply wanted the best for Katie.

I thought the mother, Linda, was the weakest link. Her role in the story was a small one, and aside from one scene at the film’s finale, she didn’t really do all that much, and pretty much could have been completely removed and left the story unaffected. The dog, Mochi, had more plot significance that her. However, her character was still likeable, and that detail would likely be my only main criticism.

The film is certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 97% Critic Review rating, and an 89% Audience score. I’d say the high praise is called for, as it was a fun and enjoyable film, one that while not overwhelmingly deep and introspective, set out knowing exactly what story it wanted to tell, and I enjoy that. I certainly consider it to be a good contender for an Academy Award.