The Willoughbys

The Willoughbys
General information
Directed by	Kris Pearn
Produced by	Brenda Gilbert Luke Carroll
Story by	Kris Pearn
Based on	The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry
Starring	Will Forte Maya Rudolph Alessia Cara Terry Crews Martin Short Jane Krakowski Seán Cullen Ricky Gervais
Music by	Mark Mothersbaugh
Production company(s)	Netflix Animation Bron Animation Creative Wealth Media
Distributed by	Netflix
Release date	April 22, 2020
Running Time	92 minutes
Countries	Canada United States
Language	English

The Willoughbys is a 2020 Canadian-American computer-animated comedy film directed by Kris Pearn and co-directed by Rob Lodermeier. 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 moderate critical acclaim upon its release.

Plot

A blue tabby cat 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 are too enamored with each other to care for their four children, both neglecting and emotionally abusing them. Tim (voiced by Will Forte), the eldest of the four, essentially raises himself and his siblings on his own, but suffers the brunt of the punishments for their actions, mainly by being tossed into a coal bin as a form of punishment for the most minor of infractions. Jane (voiced by Alessia Cara), the middle child, is the most outspoken of the bunch, and is the most often silenced by the parents. The twins both named Barnaby (both voiced by Seán Cullen), youngest and the most intelligent, are labelled "creepy" for their lack of individuality from each other.

After discovering an orphaned crazed baby who never frowns Jane took in that wrecked havoc in the living room, the Willoughby parents throw all five out of the house, refusing their return unless they get rid of it. Tim blames Jane for this but Jane tells him that she knows where they can find a perfect home. They leave the baby, who was 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 home by ridding themselves of their abusive parents, and do so by creating a “dream vacation” brochure for their parents, full of locations that would likely kill or severely maim their parents, and, as such, leave the Willoughby children orphans themselves.

The parents leave immediately, leaving the siblings with no knowledge of how to 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. He refuses to eat her oats despite not having eaten anything for days prior to her arrival, and shortly due to his misbehaving (accidently 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 feeds the baby some oats. Melanoff explain 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, and she needs a lot of attention. This makes Nanny realise 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 overhearing a voicemail left by his father when they arrive back at House Willoughby. He 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 ill intentions. Orphan Services arrive, making Nanny (revealed as Linda, an orphan who never found a loving home) lose her trust in Tim and his siblings and causing her to leave in tears, and Jane denounces Tim for his selfish actions.

The Willoughby children are then separated and taken to separate homes, where the Barnabys stop inventing and Jane becomes dejected. Tim repeatedly runs away from his foster families and is eventually placed in the Orphan Services Headquarters after witnessing the Willoughby house’s demolition during his last attempt. Linda, after the Cat intervenes when she is leaving the city in a bus by bringing Tim's helmet to her, is encouraged to go back for the children. Linda disguises herself as a janitor named "Phil" to sneak into Orphan Services Headquarters to retrieve Tim, who then tells Nanny that he does not need any help. Linda then hits him with a pillow saying if he and the siblings are not great. However she tells them that his siblings need him and brought back Tim's Helmet. They break out of the Headquarters and reunite the Willoughby siblings, and Tim reconciles with Jane.

However, the only way the Willoughbys can get Orphan Services off their backs is if they have parents. With the help of Linda, Ruth and Melanoff, the Willoughbys create a dirigible to rescue them from the "Unclimable 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 with them so that they could continue to be a family. The parents at first seem to realize their cruel and neglectful ways and ask each other if they should change and begin to actually take care of their children. However, it is shown they are still just as exceedingly selfish and steal the dirigible, abandoning the children once again. They do not know on how to steer it though and steers it into the lower peak of the mountain, resulting in it popping and eventually landing in the ocean.

The Willoughby children nearly freeze to death on top of the Unclimbable Alps as well, without a way to get them down. The siblings prepare to succumb to the cold as Jane sings for them and forgives Tim. Thankfully, Ruth, Melanoff and Nanny find them before they can die, 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 Cat.

Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby survived the dirigible crash and are shown to be floating at sea, and are soon presumably devoured and killed by a shark. In a post-credits scene, the cat is seen licking himself until he notices the audience.

Voice cast

• Will Forte as Tim Willoughby, the rational eldest child 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.
• 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
• Nancy Robinson as Irene Holmes
• Kris Pearn as Spoons McGee

Production

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

As of November 2018, the film was still in-production at the Bron Animation studio in Burnaby, British Columbia.

The characters in the film were designed by character designer Craig Kellman, who designed the 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 by Mark Mothersbaugh, who previously worked with Pearn on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. 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.

Release

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

Reception

On 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." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Renee Schonfeld of Common Sense Media, gave the film four stars out of five, saying 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." The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney said that "the Netflix animated family comedy-adventure has an oddball charm that works surprisingly well." Natalia Winkelman of The New York Times said that "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."

Accolades

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Visual Effects Society Awards	April 6, 2021	Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature	Helén Ahlberg, Kyle McQueen, Russell Smith, Raehyeon Kim	Nominated
Annie Awards	April 16, 2021	Best Animated Feature	Kris Pearn	Nominated
		Editorial in an Animated Feature Production	Catherine Apple, Anna Wolitzky and Dave Suther	Nominated
		Outstanding Achievement for Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production	Andrés Bedate Martin	Nominated
		Outstanding Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production	Mark Mothersbaugh, Alessia Cara, Jon Levine, Colton Fisher	Nominated
		Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production	Craig Kellman	Nominated
		Outstanding Achievement for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production	Kyle McQueen	Nominated