'Connected' is a kids' movie about the dangers of tech obsession

For all the potential that AI and robotics hold, there's still plenty of fear around the negative impacts they could have on society, as well as concerns that we already spend too much time staring at screens. Sony Pictures plans to capitalize on that sentiment with a new animated film Connected. It's another family-saves-the-world plot, but its message probes our reliance on technology, and it has some impressive talent behind it.

Connected starts as a story about a dad upset that his kids spend too much time on their devices. He attempts to change that by taking them on a family road trip, but things change quickly when robots turn evil and technology as a whole seems to revolt.

What makes Connected more interesting is that it's being produced by Christopher Miller and Philip Lord, who both worked on The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It's directed by Michael Rianda, the creative director behind Gravity Falls. Connected will build on the Into the Spider-Verse animation tech and offer a "more sophisticated take on tech than 'phone bad,'" Miller said in a tweet.

Connected will arrive in theaters on September 18th.