‘The Willoughbys’ Review: Parental Guidance Ejected

The agreeable animated adventure “The Willoughbys,” now streaming on Netflix, opens with the cheeky voice of Ricky Gervais. He plays a rascally striped feline who, in the first of many allusions to classic children’s texts, evokes the Cheshire cat from “Alice in Wonderland.” Narrating the story, the cat introduces us to the stately Willoughby home, where four gifted children — Tim (Will Forte), Jane (Alessia Cara) and twins both named Barnaby (Seán Cullen) — conspire to rid themselves of their comically callous and neglectful parents (Jane Krakowski and Martin Short).

The story continues with our young heroes finding an infant abandoned on their stoop. The baby gives them an idea: Why not become orphans themselves? Designing a fake travel brochure, the siblings send their parents off on a hazardous vacation which, they hope, will end in death. They overcome snags in their scheme with the help of a genial, umbrella-touting nanny (Maya Rudolph) and the garishly adorned commander of a nearby candy factory (Terry Crews). Sound familiar?

This delightfully macabre premise was first cooked up in a book by Lois Lowry, who sought to satirize the gothic fantasy genre by perverting key themes: wicked parents, lonely children, eccentric benefactors. But in adapting the book, the director Kris Pearn, who co-wrote the script with Mark Stanleigh, bungles some of Lowry’s cleverness. Various fun and surprising scenarios — a booby-trapped estate sale, a jailbreak in an oatmeal cart — are muddled by messy, zippy pivots. Worse, the darkness of the original tale is diluted by a sweetened visual design dripping with rainbows.

Still, “The Willoughbys” is charming on a moment-to-moment basis. Running gags, like how the nanny triggers a car pileup whenever she crosses the street, help to round out an unruly world. The composer Mark Mothersbaugh contributes a jazzy score and original song (performed by Cara) that punctuate the giddy mood. Though it tends to feel disjointed as a whole, “The Willoughbys” thrives when it embraces its grim plot and lets mischief reign.

The Willoughbys

Rated PG for sugarcoated parricide. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Watch on Netflix.