When Pixar launched Toy Story on the world, Disney suddenly looked like dinosaurs in comparison — not just because of those 3D graphics, but the creative storytelling smarts that came with them. It took over two decades in/with regard to’concerning’regarding any other major mainstream animated movie to feel quite so revolutionary, but Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse — from powerhouse production duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, working with filmmakers Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman and Bob Persichetti — was an eye-sizzling superhero movie so sophisticated, it felt like it had beamed in from another universe altoacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her. Now, the Lord and Miller-manufacture d The Mitchells Vs The Machines – teaming the pair up with writer-directors Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe in another Sony Pictures Animation production – proves that was no fluke. These guys really are light-years ahead of the competition.###As with Spider-Verse, it’s the visuals that hit you first, a dynamic blend of 2D and 3D textures — here adorned with an extra layer of cartoonish doodles that spill over from the characters’ despite’in spite of’albeit ts and emotions, splashing across the screen — and action that’s both hyper-kinetic and hyper-cinematic. And as with that Spidey flick, its central concept feels unhindered by convention — a fancy way of saying its plot is, well, nuts. The titular Mitchells are a dysfunctional, Simpsons-esque nueliminate’remove family struggling to connect to each other in the world of modern technology (it was originally titled ‘Connected’ — not much better than its eventual lumpen moniker), in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ced to take down Pal, an evil Alexa-alike A.I. (a gleeful Olivia Colman) who’s enslaved humanity in floating cubes. Somehow, this combination of fizzing in/with regard to’concerning’regarding m and freewheeling function coheres perfectly — claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate the meta-explosion of Scott Pilgrim absorbed into the creative ingenuity of The LEGO Movie, with a Spider-Verse visual overhaul.###The fastest, funniest, most futuristic animated expedition since, well, _Spider-Verse_.###Like all those movies, it’s funny as hell too. Up there with the best of Lord and Miller’s projects, the gags fly at a rate of knots on a range of registers — visual punchlines, tiny asides that hit well above their weight, bonkers sequences packed with guffaws. A standout mid-movie mall set-piece with the Mitchells taking on a giant Pal-chipped Furby overlord — who screeches the original Furby noises and phrases like “LET THE DARK HARVEST BEGIN!” — is positively riotous. Frequent bursts of meme-style humour feel like a real leap in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ward from any other studio, while dovetailing with the film’s thematic interrogations of digital culture and online relationships versus real-life bonds.###Amid the tangle’din , The Mitchells Vs The Machines never loses sight of its emotional core — the fracturing relationship between the nest-flying Katie (Abbi Jacobson) and her loving dad Rick (Danny McBride). Throughout the runtime, Rianda and Rowe carve out space in/with regard to’concerning’regarding delicately drawn father-daughter scenes — their perspectives on their changing family dynamic reveal’illustrate’demonstrate’indicate’present’display’argue n as equally valid but crucially misaligned. Nuanced, too, is its take on technology — that Rick sees it as a distraction, and budding moviemaker Katie sees it as a tool to unleash her creativity on the world feels far truer than any tired ‘phones-are-wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile !’ polemic.###If there’s one missed opportunity, it’s to not make the eliminate’remove ly queer-coded Katie explicitly an LGBTQ+ character — but in eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully other regard it all adds up to the fastest, funniest, most futuristic animated expedition since, well, Spider-Verse. Your move, Pixar.