Sony’s Connected movie images reveal a first look at the upcoming animated comedy about a family on a road trip when a robot apocalypse starts. Originally titled The Mitchells Vs. The Machines, the movie is produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the team behind such beloved animated movies as Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and The LEGO Movie. They also produced Sony’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and again serve as producers on Connected, which is written by Michael Rianda (Gravity Falls) and Jeff Rowe (Disenchantment), with Rianda also directing.
Today, EW unveiled the first images of Connected, featuring the entire Mitchell family. There’s college-bound Katie (Abbi Jacobson), dad Rick (Danny McBride), mom Linda (Maya Rudolph), little brother Aaron (Rianda) and “pudgy” pug Monchi, all of whom set out on a family road trip to bring Katie to school. Along the way, though, a robot apocalypse strikes. Lord describes the balance of family heart and robot adventure, saying, “It’s one thing to fight the robot apocalypse, and that’s kind of a fun premise, but it’s much more interesting to have your dad trying to teach you to drive stick during the robot apocalypse.” See the first look images below, along with some animated versions of the artwork posted to EW and the Connected movie’s official Twitter.
EW goes on to report that Connected uses some of the animation technology created for Spider-Verse to bring the robot apocalypse to life. Specifically, the human characters and world are brought to life with “a messier, more hand-drawn style,” whereas the robots and technology “are all CG shine and chrome.” This should help to give Connected an equally unique and beautiful style, helping to visually represent the dichotomy between human and machine that seems to be at the center of of the film. Still, it remains to be seen if Connected will be able to connect (pun intended) with audiences, though viewers will get to see the film for themselves when it releases in September.
Sony Pictures Animation’s Connected is an original animated comedy from director Mike Rianda and producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. When Katie Mitchell (voiced by Abbi Jacobson), 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 (voiced by Danny McBride) 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 (voiced by Maya Rudolph), her quirky little brother Aaron (voiced by Mike Rianda), and the family’s delightfully chubby pug Monchi for the ultimate family road trip. Suddenly, the Mitchells’ plans are interrupted by a tech uprising: 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!
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Source: EW
