History YMMV / TheMitchellsVsTheMachines

** Some [[ParentsAsPeople can also empathize with him]] and his attempt to repair his relationship with Katie before she possibly leaves forever. It's shown he does deeply care about her but is unable to express his emotions or accept that she’s also become her own person. He understands he had to deal with failure in his own creative pursuits when he was younger and was only worried about Katie having to go through it too. Not to mention the fact he's forced to get out of his ways and use technology in the climax to save the day. By the end of the film, he’s been gradually trying to adapt to technology for Katie, including getting a smartphone, trying to learn how to use a computer, and subscribing to her YouTube page, while she in turn also learns to appreciate his interests without giving up hers.

** Some were not able to empathize with him due to him not showing any faith or even interest in Katie's films, partially driven by his technophobic attitude. He breaks her laptop (albeit accidentally) and doesn't technically apologize for it ''after'' he made her feel like she would fail when he brought up concern over her being able to make a living off of filmmaking. He also cancels her plane ticket, forcing her to go on an impromptu family road trip to college and making her miss orientation week or spending time with her new friends. Many feel like he didn’t do enough by the end of the film to make up for it, and Katie had every reason not to want to spend time with him.

* QuestionableCasting: People who both liked and didn't liked the movies have been wondering why Aaron was voiced by Mike Mitchell, the film's director, instead of casting an actual child, as his voice certainly sounds strange coming out of a preteen.

** Some were not able to empathize with him due to him not showing any faith or even interest in Katie's films, partially driven by his technophobic attitude, breaking her laptop (albeit accidentally) and not technically apologizing for it, which happened after he made her feel like she would fail when he brought up concern over her being able to make a living off of filmmaking, and canceling her plane ticket and forcing her to go on an impromptu family road trip to college and making her miss orientation week or spending time with her new friends. Many feel like he didn’t do enough by the end of the film to make up for it, and Katie had every reason to not want to spend time with him.
** Some also [[ParentsAsPeople can empathize with him]] and his attempt to repair his relationship with Katie before she possibly leaves forever. It's shown he does deeply care about her but is unable to express his emotions/accept she’s also become her own person, while understanding he had to deal with failure with his own creative pursuits when he was younger and was only worried about Katie having to go though it too. Not to mention the fact he's forced to get out of his ways and use technology in the climax to save the day. By the end of the film he’s been gradually trying to adapt to technology for Katie, including getting a smartphone and trying to learn how to use a computer and subscribing to her YouTube page, while she in return also learns to appreciate his interests without giving up hers.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Rick Mitchell has shown to be divisive with viewers. Some were not able to empathize with him due to him not showing any faith or even interest in Katie's films partially driven from his technophobic attitude, breaking her laptop (albeit accidentally) and not technically apologizing for it, which happened after he made her feel like she would fail when he brought up concern over her being able to make a living off of filmmaking, and cancelling her plane ticket and forcing her to go on an impromptu family road trip to college and make her miss orientation week/spending time with her new friends, many feel like he didn’t do enough by the end of the film to make up for it and Katie had every reason to not want to spend time with him. However, some also [[ParentsAsPeople can empathize with him]] and his attempt to repair his relationship with Katie before she possibly leaves forever, as it’s shown he does deeply care about her but is unable to express his emotions/accept she’s also become her own person, while understanding he had to deal with failure with his own creative pursuits when he was younger and was only worried about Katie having to go though it too, along with the fact he's forced to get out of his ways and use technology in the climax to save the day, and by the end of the film he’s been gradually trying to adapt to technology for Katie, including getting a smartphone and trying to learn how to use a computer and subscribing to her [=YouTube=] page, while she in return also learns to appreciate his interests without giving up hers.

* AcceptableProfessionalTargets: Big Tech. Mark Bowman is a casually dressed, careless CEO of PAL, a company the predominates the tech industry and collects data on its users without restrictions. His casualness about his invention being replaced with the newer, better model leads directly to the robot uprising.
-->'''Linda:''' Who would have thought a tech company wouldn’t have our best interest at heart?

** Aaron's behavior is easily the most "off" out of all the Mitchells and much of his behavior suggests that he's on the autism spectrum, with his single-minded fixation on dinosaurs, overly-technical language (when regarding dinosaurs, at least), difficulty making friends and missing social cues. He also shows extreme literal-mindedness everytime he's given instructions and sometimes chews on his fingers, shirt, or seat belt when uncomfortable or stressed. There's even a bit of monotone in his voice, though this is more subdued.

* {{Anvilicious}}: Many viewers, upon seeing the trailer, called out the film for having the long clichéd "phones are bad you should spend more time with your family" Aesop that hits you in the face. Chris Miller on Twitter refuted that this is more a case of NeverTrustATrailer and [[spoiler: was vindicated upon the film's release, which goes for a more neutral viewpoint that technology in and of itself is neither bad nor good, but depends on how people use it.]]

** It's left unclear if [[spoiler:Katie was out of the closet for most of the movie]]. We do know that [[spoiler:she made a prom-posal video to a classmate named Chloe, and extra content reveals that Katie considers it "cringe"]]. Rick notes that Katie doesn't really open up to him or anyone, which is part of is reason for the road trip. She does talk about Jade a lot and is waiting to meet her, but it's possible she was scared how her family would react on TheReveal that [[spoiler:Jade is her girlfriend]]. Alternatively, since she was already [[spoiler:out]] online, she's insulted that Rick hasn't even noticed and lends credence to her belief that her father doesn't know her at all. If she was [[spoiler:open about wanting to see her girlfriend at college, that makes Rick's spontaneous road trip either a case of overprotectiveness or NoSympathy about young love]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The creators put the World’s Largest Furby into the movie because they “thought it would be funny to include it”. They didn’t know that one [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UOKafyXRXhw actually existed]], though it was smaller and only for a promotional video for Furby Babies.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: In late January, the movie was rebranded with its original title ''The Mitchells vs. The Machines'', coinciding with the announcement that it'd be being released on Netflix due to the coronavirus pandemic.

** It's left unclear if [[spoiler:Katie was out of the closet for most of the movie]]. We do know that [[spoiler:she made a prom-posal video to a classmate named Chloe, and extra content reveals that Katie considers it "cringe"]]. Rick notes that Katie doesn't really open up to him or anyone, which is part of is reason for the road trip. She does talk about Jade a lot and is waiting to meet her, but it's possible she was scared how her family would react on TheReveal that [[spoiler:Jade is her girlfriend]]. Alternatively, since she was already [[spoiler:out]] online, she's insulted that Rick hasn't even noticed and lends credence to her belief that her father doesn't know her at all. If she was [[spoiler:open about wanting to see her girlfriend at college, that makes Rick's spontaneous road trip either a case of OverprotectiveDad or NoSympathy about young love]].

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Though it's easily the most pronounced with Aaron, everyone in the Mitchell family is notably a bit off: obsessive behaviors, social awkwardness, a tendency to misread emotions, impulsiveness, lack of coordination, and so on.

** When the second trailer came out, people were most excited due to it having BTS’s “Mic Drop” playing in the background.

** Aaron also qualifies with his endearing obversion of dinosaurs, his cute design and overall being a very nice brother to Katie. In her NoAnimalsWereHarmed disclaimer, Katie even mentions that he has "the cutest, rosiest cheeks you've ever seen in your life".

* {{Adorkable}}: Deborahbot 5000 and Eric. They try to act human, and fail so miserably, and also act like 2 small children. This made them endearing to a lot of people.

** Aaron also qualifies with his endearing obession of dinosaurs, his cute design and overall being a very nice brother to Katie. In her NoAnimalsWereHarmed disclaimer, Katie even mentions that he has "the cutest, rosiest cheeks you've ever seen in your life".

* AwardSnub: While many were happy with the film simply getting a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the 2022 Academy Awards, plus already winning Best Animated Feature at the 2022 Annie Awards, it was still bit of a disappointment that it lost to ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'' (not that ''Encanto'' didn't deserve it). Especially considering the campaign made to push the film to win the award.

* AwardSnub: While many were already happy with the film getting a nomination for Best Animated Picture at all, it was still a bit of a disappointment that it lost the win to WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}} (not that Encanto didn't deserve it).

* AwardSnub: While many were already happy with the film getting a nomination for Best Animated Picture at all, it was still a bit of a disappointment that it lost the win to WesternAnimation/Encanto (not that Encanto didn't deserve it).

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Rick Mitchell has shown to be divisive with viewers. Some were not able to empathize with him due to him not showing any faith or even interest in Katie's films partially driven from his technophobic attitude, breaking her laptop (albeit accidentally) and not technically apologizing for it, which happened after he made her feel like she would fail when he brought up concern over her being able to make a living off of filmmaking, and cancelling her plane ticket and forcing her to go on an impromptu family road trip to college and make her miss orientation week, many feel like he didn’t do enough by the end of the film to make up for it and Katie had every reason to not want to spend time with him. However, some also [[ParentsAsPeople can empathize with him]] and his attempt to repair his relationship with Katie before she possibly leaves forever, as it’s shown he does deeply care about her but is unable to express his emotions/accept she’s also become her own person, while understanding he had to deal with failure with his own creative pursuits when he was younger and was only worried about Katie having to go though it too, along with the fact he's forced to get out of his ways and use technology in the climax to save the day, and by the end of the film he’s been gradually trying to adapt to technology for Katie, including getting a smartphone and trying to learn how to use a computer and subscribing to her [=YouTube=] page, while she in return also learns to appreciate his interests without giving up hers.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Rick Mitchell has shown to be divisive with viewers. Some were not able to empathize with him due to him not showing any faith or even interest in Katie's films, breaking her laptop (albeit accidentally) and not technically apologizing for it, and cancelling her plane ticket and forcing her to go on an impromptu family road trip to college and make her miss orientation week, many feel like he didn’t do enough by the end of the film to make up for it and Katie had every reason to not want to spend time with him. However, some also [[ParentsAsPeople can empathize with him]] and his attempt to repair his relationship with Katie before she possibly leaves forever, while understanding he had to deal with failure with his own creative pursuits when he was younger and was only worried about Katie having to go though it too, along with the fact he's forced to get out of his ways and use technology in the climax and by the end of the film he’s been gradually trying to adapt to technology for Katie, including getting a smartphone and subscribing to her [=YouTube=] page, while she in return also learns to appreciate his interests without giving up hers.

* BrokenBase: The meme-based jokes throughout the film. On one hand, many see the jokes as ham-fisted and obnoxious attempts at humor that instantly date the film and yet another case of companies trying to force memes into a context that simply isn't well suited for them. That said, it does have its defenders, as many found the meme jokes to be well done in execution and to work well in the context of the film, on top fitting Katie's character.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Rick Mitchell has shown to be divisive with viewers. Some were not able to empathize with him due to him not showing any faith or even interest in Katie's films, breaking her laptop (albeit accidentally) and not technically apologizing for it, and cancelling her plane ticket and forcing her to go on an impromptu family road trip to college and make her miss orientation week, many feel like he didn’t do enough by the end of the film to make up for it and Katie had every reason to not want to spend time with him. However, some also [[ParentsAsPeople can empathize with him]] and his attempt to repair his relationship with Katie before she possibly leaves forever, while understanding he had to deal with failure with his own creative pursuits when he was younger and was only worried about Katie having to go though it too, along with the fact he's forced to get out of his ways and use technology in the climax and by the end of the film he’s been gradually trying to adapt to technology for Katie, including getting a smartphone and subscribing to her [YouTube] page, while she in return also learns to appreciate his interests without giving up hers.