The Willoughbys

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The Willoughbys
Official release poster
Directed by	Kris Pearn
Screenplay by	Kris Pearn Mark Stanleigh
Story by	Kris Pearn
Based on	The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Produced by	Brenda Gilbert Luke Carroll
Starring	Will Forte Maya Rudolph Alessia Cara Terry Crews Martin Short Jane Krakowski Seán Cullen Ricky Gervais
Narrated by	Ricky Gervais
Cinematography	Sebastian Brodin
Edited by	Fiona Toth Ken Schretzmann
Music by	Mark Mothersbaugh
Production companies	Netflix Animation Bron Animation Creative Wealth Media
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	April 22, 2020 (2020-04-22)
Running time	92 minutes
Countries	Canada United States
Language	English

The Willoughbys is a 2020 computer-animated comedy film directed by Kris Pearn and co-directed by Rob Lodermeier.^[1] Based on the book of the same name by Lois Lowry, the film's screenplay was written by Pearn and Mark Stanleigh, and stars the voices of Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Alessia Cara, Terry Crews, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, Seán Cullen, and Ricky Gervais, who also narrates the film.

The Willoughbys was released on Netflix on April 22, 2020, and received critical acclaim upon its release.^[2]

Plot[]

A blue tabby cat (voiced by Ricky Gervais) narrates the story of the Willoughbys, who were once considered a proud and creative family, full of the greatest men and women for generations. The present-day Mr. (Walter) and Mrs. (Helga) Willoughby, however, are too enamored with each other to care for their four children, neglecting and emotionally abusing them. Tim (voiced by Will Forte), the oldest of the four, raises himself and his siblings, but suffers the brunt of the punishments for their actions, mainly by being tossed into a coal bin as punishment for even minor infractions. Jane (voiced by Alessia Cara), the middle child, is the most outspoken of the bunch, and is often silenced by her parents. The twins both named Barnaby (both voiced by Seán Cullen), are the youngest and the most intelligent.

After discovering an orphaned baby, Jane takes her in. When she wreaks havoc in the living room, the Willoughby parents throw all five children out of the house, forbidding their kids to return unless they get rid of the baby. Tim blames Jane for this, but Jane tells him that she knows where they can find a perfect home. They leave the baby, who Tim names "Ruth", on the doorstep of Commander Melanoff’s (voiced by Terry Crews) candy factory at the end of a rainbow. Having never been outside before, the siblings believe the candy factory to be the perfect home, and, on their way home, begin hatching a plan to improve their lives by ridding themselves of their abusive parents, and do so by creating a “dream vacation” brochure for their parents, full of locations that could kill or severely maim their parents, and, as such, leave the Willoughby children orphans themselves.

The parents leave immediately on their vacation, leaving the siblings with no knowledge of how to warm the house up or prepare their own food. Thankfully, the “cheap nanny” (voiced by Maya Rudolph) their parents hired soon appears to take care of them. Jane warms up to her immediately, with the Barnabys following soon after, while Tim remains distrustful towards her. Tim refuses to eat her oats despite not having eaten anything for days prior to her arrival. Shortly later Tim misbehaves (accidentally throwing the oats at her as he slams his fists into the table), Nanny tries to put Tim in a time-out as a punishment, but soon begins to learn of the neglect and abuse done onto the children and rushes off to Melanoff’s factory with the children in tow when she finds out about Ruth.

After saving Ruth from the assembly line, Nanny and Melanoff feed the baby some oatmeal. Melanoff explains that he planned to leave Ruth to the Department of Orphan Services after she came in, but very quickly grew attached to her, much to Nanny's relief. Nanny realizes that Ruth will be safe living in the factory.

Meanwhile, the Willoughby parents have somehow survived the disasters planned for them by their children, but have gone broke. Dreading returning to their home and subsequently their children, they decide to put the age-old Willoughby house up for sale in favor of continuing their adventures. They inform Nanny of their actions and demand she figure out what to do with the children on her own.

Tim, still not quite trusting of Nanny, steals her cell phone to find out what she’s up to after reading a text and overhearing a voicemail left by his father when they arrive back at the Willoughby house. Tim finds out about the sale and with the aid of his siblings, manages to scare off all potential buyers the next day. Nanny scares off the "Perfect Family", saying that it's her duty to look after the kids first, parents’ wishes second, and finally earns Tim’s trust. However, prior to the potential buyers arriving, Tim called Orphan Services, believing Nanny to have had ill intentions from what he found on her phone. Agent Alice Vernakov and the Orphan Services arrive and reveal Tim's call, making Nanny (revealed as Linda, an orphan who never found a loving home) lose her trust in the children and causing her to leave in tears.

Heartbroken over Linda's departure and infuriated at Tim for driving her away, Jane denounces him for his bossiness and selfish actions just before the Willoughby children are separated and taken to separate foster homes. The Barnabys are taken to a modern home where they stop inventing and become indulged in the internet and modern technology. Jane is sent to a music-loving New Age home, but is too dejected over her losses to participate in their activities. Tim, meanwhile, repeatedly runs away from his well-meaning foster families and is eventually placed in a cell at Orphan Services Headquarters after witnessing the Willoughby house’s sale and demolition during his final attempt. Linda, after the Cat intervenes as she leaves the city on a bus by bringing Tim's helmet to her, is encouraged to go back for the children. She disguises herself as a janitor named "Phil" to sneak into Orphan Services Headquarters to retrieve Tim, who initially refuses her help out of guilt over having driven her away and broken his family up in the process. Linda, however, manages to snap him out of his depression with some tough love, telling Tim that his siblings need him and returning his helmet. They break out of the Headquarters and reunite the Willoughby siblings, and Tim reconciles with Jane.

However, everyone soon realizes that only way the Willoughbys can get Orphan Services off their backs is if they have their parents. With the help of Linda, Ruth and Melanoff, the Willoughbys create a dirigible to rescue them from the "Unclimbable Alps" in their final destination, Sveetserlünd (an obvious parody of Switzerland.) The siblings decide to use the dirigible too early, leaving Nanny, Ruth and Melanoff. As they reach their destination, they follow a trail of their mother’s yarn to the top of the mountain, where they find their parents nearly frozen to death. The siblings and the Cat save them, confessing that they sent them away but hoping to reunite as a family. The siblings plead with their parents to come back home so they can continue to be a family. At first, the parents seem to realize their cruelty and neglectful ways and ask each other if they really should change and begin to properly take care of their children. However, the parents then reveal that they are still just as exceedingly selfish and steal the dirigible, abandoning the children again, but the parents do not know how to steer the dirigible and they drive it into the lower peak of the mountain, which results in it popping and eventually crashing into the ocean.

With no way to get down, the Willoughby children start to freeze to death on top of the Unclimbable Alps. The siblings prepare to succumb to the cold as Jane sings for them. Thankfully, Ruth, Melanoff and Nanny find them before they freeze to death, having followed the dirigible. Now officially orphans, the Willoughbys are adopted by Linda and Melanoff, living much happier lives in Melanoff’s candy factory with them, Ruth, and the Cat.

Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby are shown to have survived the dirigible crash and are floating at sea. However, they are then devoured by a shark.

Voice cast[]

• Will Forte as Tim Willoughby, the protagonist of the film, he is the oldest and rational son of the Willoughbys.
• Maya Rudolph as Linda a.k.a. The Nanny, an eccentric babysitter who looks after the kids. She is also revealed to be an orphan.
• Alessia Cara as Jane Willoughby, the cheerful middle child of the Willoughbys with a passion for singing.
• Terry Crews as Commander Melanoff, the joyous, but lonely owner of a candy factory.
• Martin Short as Walter "Father" Willoughby, the Willoughby's abusive father with a hobby of ships in bottles.
• Jane Krakowski as Helga "Mother" Willoughby, the Willoughby's abusive mother with a hobby of knitting.
• Seán Cullen as Barnaby A and Barnaby B Willoughby, the "creepy" twin boys and youngest children of the Willoughbys.
• Ricky Gervais as The Cat, a talking blue tabby cat, and the narrator of the film.
• Colleen Wheeler as Orphan Service Agent Alice Vernakov.
• Nancy Robinson as Irene Holmes.
• Kris Pearn as Spoons McGee.

Production[]

In November 2015, Bron Studios acquired the animated film rights to Lois Lowry's book The Willoughbys, and hired Kris Pearn to adapt it into a screenplay with Adam Wood to direct the film, with Aaron L. Gilbert and Luke Carroll producing.^[3] In April 2017, Ricky Gervais was cast in the film to play the narrator as well as one of the characters and it was reported that Pearn would co-direct the film with Cory Evans.^[4] The screenplay however was replaced by Pearn and Mark Stanleigh with a story by Pearn who also executive produced the film. In June 2017, the cast was expanded to include, Terry Crews, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski, and Seán Cullen.^[5] Will Forte and Alessia Cara (in her first animated role) also provided their voices, with Netflix set to distribute the film.^[6]

The film was produced at the Bron Animation studio in Burnaby, British Columbia.^[6]

The characters in the film were designed by character designer Craig Kellman, who designed characters for DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar and Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania, as well as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s The Addams Family.

Soundtrack[]

The music in the film was composed and conducted by Mark Mothersbaugh, who previously worked with Pearn on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.^[7] The original song "I Choose" (performed by Alessia Cara, who plays the voice of Jane in the film) was released independently by Def Jam Recordings.^[8]

Score[]

All music is composed by Mark Mothersbaugh.

Release[]

The film was digitally released on April 22, 2020 by Netflix.^[9] It was viewed at least in-part by 37 million households over its first month of release.^[10]

Reception[]

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 91% based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 6.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "An appealing animated adventure whose silliness is anchored in genuine emotion, The Willoughbys offers fanciful fun the entire family can enjoy."^[11] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating a "generally favorable reviews".^[12]

Renee Schonfeld of Common Sense Media, gave the film four stars out of five, noting that the film is a "wonderfully whimsical tale with dark themes is softened by warmth, humor, and stellar performances by talented comic actors who brighten the already inventive and luminous animation."^[13] The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney said that "the Netflix animated family comedy-adventure has an oddball charm that works surprisingly well."^[14] Natalia Winkelman of The New York Times said that the film "is charming on a moment-to-moment basis. Running gags, like how Tim triggers a car pileup whenever he crosses the street, help to round out an unruly world. The composer Mark Mothersbaugh contributes a jazzy score and original song (performed by Cara) that punctuate the giddy mood. Though it tends to feel disjointed as a whole, 'The Willoughbys' thrives when it embraces its grim plot and lets mischief reign."^[15]

Accolades[]

References[]

External links[]

• The Willoughbys at IMDb