Now Streaming: Catch Palisadian Martin Short in ‘The Willoughbys’

By JENNIKA INGRAM | Reporter    

Whether you’re feeling isolated and need a laugh or you’re a parent looking for a comedy for the whole family, the new animated feature, “The Willoughbys,” might fit the bill.

Longtime Palisadian and former Honorary Mayor Martin Short is featured in this family comedy, which was released for streaming on April 22.

It starts out with the four Willoughby children thinking they would be better off raising themselves and devising a sneaky plan to send them on vacation. Short and Jane Krakowski play parents that are so in love with each other, they have nothing left to give to their kids.

When the plan inevitably does not work out, they found themselves running from the Department of Child Services—learning the true meaning of family along the way.

Will Forte voices the oldest brother and lead character Tim. In her first-ever on-screen role, Grammy-winner Alessia Cara voices his sister Jane and sang her first original song for a character, “I Choose.”

The siblings, twins Barnaby A and B, are both voiced by Sean Cullen. Comedian Ricky Gervais narrates the story as “The Cat.” Maya Rudolph voices the Nanny and Terry Crews is Commander Melanoff, a candy mogul.

Kris Pearn (“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2”) wrote and directed the film, along with Rob Lodermeier co-directing and Mark Stanleigh as a co-writer. Pearn also makes a cameo as the voice of the character Spoons Mcgee.

Producers include Brenda Gilbert, Aaron L. Gilbert and Luke Carroll. Gervais and Jason Cloth are executive producers.

The story is based on the beloved Lois Lowry’s book by the same name.

“What I loved about the book was its subversive sense of humor, which reminded me of Roald Dahl and Mordecai Richler,” said Pearn in Animation Magazine about the story’s eccentric family.

It was produced in Short’s native country, Canada, at Bron Studios located in Burnaby, British Columbia, in association with Creative Wealth Media.

The rated PG comedy has a run time of one hour and 32 minutes and is now available for streaming on Netflix.