After the four children are kicked out of their home by their parents, the children are desperate to find new parents and think of a plan to 'orphan themselves' by sending their parents to a deadly vacation so that they can die. They see a travel agency after wandering homeless in the streets of a busy city, and Tim says, 'We can send them away. What if we orphaned ourselves?" They then sneak back into their home (still kicked out) without their parents' knowledge, and Tim st... (Full plot summary below)
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After the four children are kicked out of their home by their parents, the children are desperate to find new parents and think of a plan to 'orphan themselves' by sending their parents to a deadly vacation so that they can die. They see a travel agency after wandering homeless in the streets of a busy city, and Tim says, 'We can send them away. What if we orphaned ourselves?" They then sneak back into their home (still kicked out) without their parents' knowledge, and Tim states, "We shall craft a murderous adventure." He then states, "A romantic getaway, hiding deadly orphaning opportunities. If they do melt in the hottest place on earth ( a scene is shown of the parents melting in lava)...they shall drown in the wettest (two sharks are shown eating the parents who are in a boat)...Cannibals will feast unless they freeze in glacial ice (a scene is shown where parents are being boiled in a large pot while cannibals dance around the fire with a knife in hand, then it shows them freezing in a glacier)...or dissolve in fields of acid (parents are shown as their skin dissolves due to the acid)...they shall not escape the bears (two large bears being aggressive)...we have saved the deadliest spot for last, the alp." Then Jane points to a picture of the alps and says, "He who goes up does not come down." After this point, the kids are on a race to get orphaned so they no longer have to deal with their unloving and selfish parents.
Leave your thoughts about The Willoughbys.
| PolygonPetrana RadulovicThe animation decisions in The Willoughbys heighten the message of redefining family, connecting the medium directly to the storyline. |
| IndieWireKate ErblandThe Willoughbys is different — or, perhaps, just different enough to stand out, as it sends up the vast assortment of kiddie stories about missing, dead, or just plain bad parents, and finds something fresh and funny in the process. |
| The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzParents might get more of a kick out of the voice-casting and darker corners of the story than school-aged children. But Vancouver’s BRON Animation studio provides a strong, often beguiling sense of tyke-hypnotizing flair to the visuals, and the zippy, synthy score by Wes Anderson favourite Mark Mothersbaugh should keep kids bouncing up and down, in a good way. |
| RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloThe movie practically sparkles in scenes at Melanoff’s candy factor, where the rainbow motif is woven throughout the space and even onto Melanoff’s commander jacket, which is topped off with candy buttons and cupcakes on his shoulders. |
| Original-CinLiam LaceyFans of cynically funny children's entertainment in the vein of Roald Dahl or Lemony Snicket’s Daniel Handler should glean some fun out of the new Netflix animated movie, The Willoughbys, an energetic and semi-imaginative comedy about an appalling family. |
| VarietyPeter DebrugeWhile The Willoughbys might not be very original, its novelty comes through in the delivery and execution, owing to a witty screenplay (by Pearn and Mark Stanleigh) that combines nimble wordplay with highly compressed, well-paced plotting. |
| San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonWith a sense of eccentric macabre that recalls Roald Dahl and Charles Addams, The Willoughbys arrives on Netflix with a winning, eclectic energy that should have kids — like the animated moppets in the film — bouncing off the walls. In a good way, of course. |
| The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyThere's a lot going on in The Willoughbys, yet if you can get on board with its manic energy and accelerated plotting, the Netflix animated family comedy-adventure has an oddball charm that works surprisingly well. |
| The New York TimesNatalia WinkelmanThough it tends to feel disjointed as a whole, The Willoughbys thrives when it embraces its grim plot and lets mischief reign. |
| Screen RantMolly FreemanThe Willoughbys is a mishmash of story ideas strung together by the idea of found family, but it's cute and quirky enough to keep viewers hooked. |
