The Willoughbys

The Willoughbys is an American CGI-animated comedy movie written and directed by Kris Pern. The movie follows the Willoughby children who become convinced they can raise themselves and hatch a plan to send their parents away.

Summary
"Four siblings with horribly selfish parents hatch a plan to get rid of them for good and form a perfectly imperfect family of their own."

- Official Netflix Synopsis

"Convinced they’d be better off raising themselves, the Willoughby children hatch a sneaky plan to send their selfish parents on vacation. The siblings then embark on their own high-flying adventure to find the true meaning of family."

- Netflix Press Release

Plot
Once considered a proud family, the reputation of the Wiloughbys is tarnished when their parents become too romantically involved to take care of their four children. Tim is their eldest child, who happens to live in a coal bin, but has the burden of keeping his siblings out of trouble and in line. Jane is an aspiring singer but suffers from constantly being silenced by her parents. The two younger children, twins Barnaby, have the misfortune of being labeled creepy due to their advanced intelligence.

After finding a baby left outside their house (which they name Ruth) their parents throw them out of the house. In return, the children leave Ruth on the doorstep of a candy factor; she is taken in by Commander Melanoff shortly after. The children believe they would be better off fending for themselves, and concoct a "vacation" brochure that their parents eventually agree to go on — secretly, Jane hopes their parents will die on the vacation.

A few days go by, and the children quickly run out of food. Jane and Tim are unable to provide more, but the children are glad when a nanny their parents hired arrives; everyone except Tim warms up to the nanny.

Tim begins misbehaving due to his dislike of the nanny, and is soon put into time out. Shortly after, the nanny finds out what happened to Ruth, and visits Melanoff's factory to retrieve her. Meanwhile, the parents become short on cash — after surviving the disasters their children planned for them — and put their houses up for sale in order to gain more cash to continue their adventures; they tell the nanny to get rid of the children.

When the kids find out about the sale — and their parents actions — they scare off all of the potential buyers and Tim call's Orphan Services about their parents. Orphan Services arrive and attempts to take away the children, but recognises the nanny as Linda, an orphan who never found a loving family.

Linda leaves in tears after it is revealed that it was Tim who called Orphan Services. Jane denounces Tim angrily and the children are taken to separate homes. Eventually, a friendly cat (the narrator of the tale) convinces Linda to reunite the children. In a bid to get Orphan Services off their back, they plan to reunite with their parents despite how much they hate them.

They eventually find their parents at the top of a mountain about to freeze to death. Despite their differences, Tim tells their parents that they are still family. Their parents do not feel the same, however, and shove them aside and steal their helicopter; due to their lack of driving expertise, they crash the blimp. Jane had to sing one more “what-if”. The children were seen about to be covered by snow while hugging together. Linda and Melanoff find the children and decide to adopt them, living happily ever after in the candy factory.

The Willoughby parents, however, survived the crash but are devoured by a shark shortly after.

Trivia

 * Despite the children calling their parents Father & Mother, the parents call themselves Mother and Father. This might’ve confused people thinking that the ”parents are their own parents”.

Cast and Characters

 * Will Forte voicing Tim Willoughby
 * Alessia Cara voicing Jane Willoughby
 * Martin Short voicing Mr. Willoughby
 * Jane Krakowski voicing Mrs. Willoughby
 * Ricky Gervais voicing The Cat
 * Maya Rudolph voicing Linda
 * Terry Crews voicing Commander Melanoff
 * Sean Cullen voicing Barnaby A & B