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
The Willoughbys were once considered a proud family, full of the greatest men and women around. The reputation of the Willoughbys is sullen by the parents of the four protagonists, who love no one but each other and neglect their children terribly. Tim, the eldest of the four, essentially raises himself and his siblings on his own, but suffers the brunt of the punishments for their actions. Jane, the middle child, is the most outspoken of the bunch, and is the most often silenced by their parents. Twins Barnaby, youngest and the most intelligent, are labelled creepy for their lack of individuality from each other.

After discovering an orphan Jane insisted the siblings take in, the Willoughby parents throw all five out of the house, refusing their return unless they get rid of it. They leave the orphan, who was named Ruth by Tim, on the doorstep of Melanoff’s candy factory at the end of the rainbow. Having never been outside before, the siblings believe the candy factory to be the perfect home, and begin hatching a plan to improve their home by ridding them of their parents. They concoct a “dream vacation” brochure for their parents, chock full with locations sure to 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” their parents hired soon shows up to take care of them. Jane warms up to her near immediately, with the Barnabys following soon after, while Tim remains distrustful towards her. He refuses to eat her food, despite not having eaten anything for days prior to her arrival, and shortly is put into time out due to his misbehaving. Nanny begins to learn of the neglect done onto the children and rushes off to Melanoff’s factory with the children in tow when she finds out about Ruth.

Meanwhile, the Willoughby parents have 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 favour 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 phone to find out what she’s up to after overhearing a voicemail left by his father. He finds out about the sale and, with the aid of his siblings, manages to scare off all potential buyers. 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.

The Willoughby children are separated and taken to separate homes, where the Barnabys stop inventing and Jane becomes dejected. Tim repeatedly runs away from his families and is eventually placed in Orphan Services Headquarters after running from one of them and watching the Willoughby house’s demolition. Nanny, after the Narrator butts in and redirects her, disguises herself as a janitor to sneak into Orphan Services Headquarters to retrieve Tim and reunite the Willoughby siblings.

Unfortunately, the only way the Willoughbys can get Orphan Services off their backs is if they have parents. With the help of Nanny and Mel, the Willoughbys craft a dirigible to rescue them from the Unclimbable Alps— their final destination. The siblings leave without Nanny and Mel, and eventually find their parents at the top of the Unclimbable Alps, about to freeze to death. The siblings plead with their parents to come back home with them so that they could continue to be a family but their parents are still exceedingly selfish and steal their dirigible, crashing it and 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. Thankfully, Mel and Nanny find them before they can die, having followed the dirigible. Now officially orphans, the Willoughbys are adopted by Nanny and Melanoff, living happily ever after in Melanoff’s candy factory with Ruth.

Trivia

 * Mother and Father's names are Helga and Walter respectively. They call each other Mother and Father for unknown reasons, though it is speculated it could be part of their idea of romance.
 * The Perfect Family is seen in the window that the Cat describes as the 'supporting family.'
 * It is not explained why every parent in every generation of Willoughby has the same colour hair. We choose not to question it.

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