Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
When the four Willoughby children are abandoned by their selfish parents, they must learn how to adapt their Old-Fashioned values to the contemporary world in order to create something new: The Modern Family.
The Willoughbys is a charming, adequately crafted animated family film that hits most of its marks competently without truly excelling in any single area. The plot is a quirky Roald Dahl-esque tale of neglected children finding their own family, engaging but not especially surprising. The voice cast (Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Jane Krakowski) is solid and energetic without being particularly memorable. The visual style has a pleasing yarn/textile aesthetic with some distinctive color work, though it never rises to the level of genuinely innovative animation. It carves out a pleasantly sardonic tone for a family film but doesn't feel truly singular or irreplaceable. The ending wraps things up warmly and satisfyingly in a conventional way. Across the board, a competent above-average effort that lands comfortably in the middle tier.