The Willoughbys
THE WILLOUGHBYS - NETFLIXNETFLIX's latest foray into the animation market with The Willoughbys – based on the book by Lois Lowry – is a lite mixture of The Adams Family, A Series of Unfortunate Events and the Despicable Me series, with little vibrancy or entertainment.
The most significant concern The Willoughbys possesses is an identity crisis. Throughout, the feature evokes moments remarkably similar to other contemporary features and on the odd occasion, the comparisons are visually and thematically verbatim. Due to this identity crisis, The Willoughbys fails to manifest not only a strong impact but total engagement with its view.
The animation style is one that has a vividness and abstract notion but often looks overly cheap for its own good – specifically Terry Crews' character Commander Melanoff or the general setting. The Willoughbys' visual reflection of the story does little to excite any thematic weight aside from being solely abstract. However, this is written and underlined quite effectively by writer-director Kris Pearn and co-writer Mark Stanleigh, of whom both write a solid four central characters with love and affection.
The four central characters of the film have likeable and effective chemistry. Will Forte balances a great comedic embellishment with dramatic prowess as Tim, and Alessia Cara does a magical job as Jane. Maya Rudolph also injects a great dynamic as the nanny in a loving and caring verbal role that is slightly underused and explored. That being said, it is the bloated cameo of Ricky Gervais that grabs the attention of the more adult-oriented viewer in hysterics that, not surprisingly, might not hit the intended target audience.
The Willoughbys is undoubtedly a missed opportunity, but it is one that evokes a modest attempt at crafting a film with love and care. Even when it fails to offer a distinctive visual or thematic palette, the attempt itself is one to commend in an era of animated saturation against the greats of Pixar, Studio Ghibli and Dreamworks.
