Sibling caper hones devilish spirit of Dahl
The Willoughbys
Cert PG, Netflix
In their relic of a city mansion, the Willoughby children are coming apart at the seams.
Eldest boy Tim (voiced by Will Forte) is trying to uphold the proud lineage glaring back at him from the hallway portraits, while sister Jane (Canadian pop starlet Alessia Cara) wants to let her heart sing. The twins, both called Barnaby and sharing one pullover between them, are gifted inventors.
None of this is noticed by their rotten parents (Martin Short and Jane Krakowski) who have nothing on their minds as tedious as children and want only to smooch and quaff in peace.
Fed up with the nasty neglectful parents, Tim and his siblings hatch a plan to send them away on a conjuredup foreign trip so that they can rule the roost and finally look after themselves.
The chaos that predictably ensues is exacerbated by the arrival on the doorstep of a baby in a basket. Bounding to the rescue comes the rotund form of an unflappable supernanny (Maya Rudolph) who quickly restores some form of order to the house.
Her presence however mightn’t be enough to satisfy the shady Child Services agents who are hilariously animated to resemble alien abductors. A fantastic voyage is set in motion to find the horrid parents and avoid being orphaned.
The devilish spirit of Roald Dahl is very much alive and well in this gobby and frightful animated romp from Netflix that the streaming giant categorises as “cynical and offbeat”. Between its horrible parents, the monstrous world of adults, and the superhuman capabilities of children to love during times of lovelessness, there are bigger themes hit upon by director and co-writer (with Mark Stanleigh) Kris Pearn.
It is unrelentingly hilarious but there is a slight air of threat to things, especially in the early scenes, that might be just a little too edgy for very young viewers.
The main draw however, is the work of Bron Animation, whose style is so quirky and untethered that it feels like new territory in a landscape dominated by the standard Disney-Pixar concept of animation. That prospect alone makes this a worthwhile outing.
★★★★