The Willoughbys

My 3yo, 5yo, and I adore this film. Several moments that made us laugh hysterically, most of those moments are kind of dark. So if you and your family like twisted humor, give this one a go!

The vast majority of the jokes fall entirely flat and I think an insanely fast-paced movie with an hour-and-half runtime should have been way more entertaining. The major issue I have with this, though, is that it keeps shifting from one interesting storyline to another, and trying to convince us every time it that this would be the basis of the plot, before almost abandoning them and settling on a rather far less interesting and original plotline to serve its message, which is very problematic.

That said, I did enjoy this. It's so silly, for better or worse, and has a tinge of freshness, extremely eccentric and quirky characters (I think these parents are the creepiest I've seen in any movie) and breezy animation style similar to what Kris Pearn has done in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. But, to be honest, the intrusive meta-narrator cat is the true highlight of the movie.

(6/10)

The film isn't bad. The voice-acting, the unique characters, the dark humor, the animation, all make it quite an intriguing story right of the bat. Unfortunately, what starts out as a truly unique tale gives way to a horribly predictable and cliched ending. I truly thought this movie had promise, but once you realize where it's heading it's charm dwindles fast. What starts out as a daring piece of film ultimately loses out by playing it safe.

Don't listen to critics. Watch the movie on your own and make up your own opinion. The animation is brilliant no doubt about that. While having a predictable plot, the movie still has tons of laughs as well as some nice and heartwarming moments.

A mix of 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' and 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and 'Mary Poppins'? Darker and pretty disturbing than most family fare but still has its moments especially with its beautiful animation style and great voice acting.