The Willoughbys is a Netflix original film about four children who are convinced that they would be better off raising themselves. Sending their selfish parents away on vacation, the story will send the siblings into their own personal adventure to discover the real meaning of family.

Thankfully the movie’s duration is wonderfully short and to the point, so it overly wasn’t a waste of time watching the movie – but it definitely wasn’t for me. While I did enjoy the last 20 minutes of the film, the first hour is overly boring and the characters are beyond annoying.

The singing by Alessia Cara who plays Jane is gorgeous, and she easily outshines the rest of the cast (who most of the time seem miscast). I mainly kept watching the film for her singing, and again because of the incredibly short duration. 

While this is not the worst film I’ve seen, and I imagine a lot of kids will enjoy the movie – I can understand adults getting quickly bored with it. The jokes fall flat, the parents are horrible, and the kids are one dimensional. On the positive side, the animation is gorgeous and Ricky Gervais narrates as a cat.

This is the type of film you can safely put on for your children while you take a much needed break, or catch up on errands. Check it out now streaming on Netflix.

Review written by Sandra Porter.