The Art of The Mitchells vs. The Machines

by Ramin Zahed, Debbie Rianda (Foreword)

COVER NOT FINAL The official behind-the-scenes art book for Sony Pictures Animation’s feature film The Mitchells vs. The Machines   The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a comedy about an everyday family's struggle to relate while technology rises up around the world! When Katie Mitchell, a creative outsider, is accepted into the film school of her dreams, her plans to meet “her people” at college are upended when her nature-loving dad Rick determines the whole family should drive Katie to school together and bond as a family one last time. Katie and Rick are joined by the rest of the family, including Katie’s wildly positive mom Linda, her quirky little brother Aaron, and the family’s delightfully chubby pug Monchi for the ultimate family road trip. Suddenly, the Mitchells’ plans are interrupted by a tech All around the world, the electronic devices people love—from phones to appliances to an innovative new line of personal robots—decide it’s time to take over. With the help of two friendly malfunctioning robots, the Mitchells will have to get past their problems and work together to save each other and the world! The Art of The Mitchells vs. The Machines gives insight into how the filmmakers were able to bring this fresh, new vision to the screen through concept art, sketches, and early character designs, accompanied by exclusive commentary from director/co-writer Michael Rianda and co-director/co-writer Jeff Rowe, alumni of the team behind Emmy Award–winning Gravity Falls, and producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the innovative and creative minds behind The Lego Movie and the Academy Award–winning  Into the Spider-Verse.

Genres: Art, Film, Art Design, Nonfiction

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 18, 2021

About the author

Ramin Zahed is the Editor-in-Chief of the Los Angeles-based monthly publication, Animation magazine. He has been covering the animation and visual effects world for over 15 years. Before joining Animag, he was a senior editor at Daily variety. His articles have also appeared in Variety, Hollywood reporter, The Los Angeles times and The Christian science monitor.

Reviews

[Mac M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was absolutely stunning and so useful!!!

[Aaron White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I receive big art books about the making of Netflix movies every single year as a critic. This is the first time I've read through one, though. This is an awesome supplement to the best animated film of 2021 featuring a ton of production history from a ton of different crew members. It also showcases the film's gorgeous artwork and how it came to be. Just an absolute treat for any fan of this wonderful movie.

[AnneDrawsArt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this wonderful book, showing a deeper dive into the animation pipeline, color design, and the lengths artists go to to bring these characters to life.
I feel very lucky to have added this to my art book collection.

[Paul Sutter]

As someone who is more used to receiving Pixar’s Art Of books for reviews, THE ART OF THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINE from Sony Pictures was a very pleasant surprise. Although I have not seen the movie, it more than captured the mood and spirit of the film that has gotten rave reviews all across the Internet. This is the same production company that received high fives and applause for a previous Award winning film, “Spider Man: Into The Spider Verse.”
The book looks at every facet of the film, including the inspiration for the characters and the theme of the book. Much thought went into the creation of the characters, and it more than shows on every page of this entertaining volume. The movie itself was hailed for its theme and the way it looked at the world in general, including the closeness of family and the technological implosion that has threatened so much of our lives.
The Mitchell family is a typical family, but when daughter Katie is about to head to a California film school, they decide on one last road trip from their home in Kentwood Michigan, to see the country one last time as a family. Father Rick, mother Linda, brother Aaron and family dog Monchi, are all front and center for the trip, one last chance to bond as a family. But things go awry when technology guru Mark Bowman decides to create a new breed of robots when one of his most cherished ones. PAL, seems outdated. It will be a brave new robot world.
PAL does not like to become obsolete, and gets the rest of the robots in the world to rebel and get rid of humans from earth. The Mitchells arrive in Kansas as the robot rebellion is in high gear. With the help of two defective robots, the Mitchells have a chance to save the world. It shows how family bonds together and no matter what the age or ideological differences, family comes first and you either work together as a family or become fragments of who you were meant to be.
With the voices from such noted stars as Maya Rudolph, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Conan O’Brien and others, the movie was a classic as is this book, showing every phase of development. It makes you want to see the movie all the more, if you have not already.

[Adriii · Rating 5 out of 5]

El mundo del artbook puede ser muy escabroso; son caros y pesan mucho, pero sobre todo, hay muchos tipos de libros bajo la misma categoría. Están las meras recopilaciones del arte de una obra, que incluso pueden incluir algún boceto o algún texto aquí y allá, pero están para poder admirarlo y recrearse. Pero por otro lado están esos libros de arte llenos de información, de procesos, de artistas que explican sus inspiraciones, de técnicos que cuentan el cómo, de programadores que explican el "detrás" de cada decisión de diseño; de textos que equilibran la anécdota, la información, el dato, el proceso. Este artbook es de estos últimos, una joya para cualquiera que disfrute los libros de arte, la animación o los libros sobre cómo se hace el cine. ¡Lo tiene todo! Es una gozada. Me encanta cuando leer y empaparme de un artbook me lleva meses :)

[Sebastian Zavala · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a (mega) fan of the film, "The Art of The Mitchells vs. The Machines" managed to captivate me. And as a filmmaker and film critic, even more so. Yes, there's a lot of talk about how Sony was "brave" for greenlighting such an original film, especially at the beginning, which can be a little repetitive. But apart from that, the book manages to convey the whole creative process for creating the film, dedicating entire chapters to the design of its world, locations and characters. There's a lot of talk, too, but its overall design and style, which is fascinating! All in all, "The Art of The Mitchells vs. The Machines" is the perfect book for designers and filmmakers, both aspiring and professional, and if you LOVE the movie as much as I do... oof, you're gonna have a great time.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I colorful exploration into utilizing 2D stylized characters in a surrounding 3D world! Keeping the character roughness and translating that into a lived in world created finally by computers is no easy matter. Juxtaposing this flawed, but relatable family with the crispness and geometrical of their robotic enemies created some memorable scenes. I personally loved reading and seeing the character designs in concept then honed throughout the book the most. I think setting and environmental design artists will certainly appreciate much of the later half of the book.

[will tooher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actually titled "The Art of The Mitchells vs. Machines".

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful work and a lot of great interviews that really take you behind scenes of this movie.

[McKenna]

God I love getting to look at concept art and hear some of the reasoning behind why they made certain design choices. My little art heart finds so much joy and pleasure out of it.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic art book with enough text for background and BTS decision making for how the vision developed.

[Pimplop · Rating 5 out of 5]

qué increíble

[Aj Kahle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful Art, amazing insight, and wonderfully heartfelt

[Nathaly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Que libro más lindo (yo soy Katie Mitchell)

[Alina Stashane · Rating 5 out of 5]

insanely well-made and so inspiring and useful and just genuinely heartwarming

one of those rare art books that actually show you behind the scenes

10/5