Welcome to the highly specific golden age of animated movies about complicated father-daughter relationships. In the Oscar-nominated (and unjustly Oscar-losing)
Wolfwalkers, a fearful English soldier counsels his wild-hearted daughter to collaborate in the occupation of Ireland, lest her disobedience draw the vengeful eye of Oliver Cromwell. And in
The Mitchells vs. the Machines, which arrives on Netflix on Friday, a technophobic dad frets about his daughter’s decision to major in filmmaking instead of choosing a more practical career path. In other ways, the two movies are diametrically opposed.
Wolfwalkers is hand-drawn, while the digitally animated
Mitchells takes its cues from the frenetic style of online memes and frequently annotates its action with bursting hearts and crude squiggles.