{"id":1236399597,"date":"2025-10-13T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/?p=1236399597"},"modified":"2025-10-13T14:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T21:16:11","slug":"the-twits-review-netflix-phil-johnston-natalie-portman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-twits-review-netflix-phil-johnston-natalie-portman-1236399597\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Twits’ Review: Netflix’s Animated Roald Dahl Adaptation Goes From Grossly Generic to Surprisingly Political"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tWhile some young Roald Dahl fans, like me, preferred the cozy creepiness of The Witches<\/em> or the weird whimsy of James and the Giant Peach<\/em>, other readers were decidedly Twits<\/em> kids. They liked that novel\u2019s gross-out stuff about glass eyes placed at the bottom of beer glasses, worms swapped in for spaghetti, and so on. The very conception of the book, from 1980, was premised on revulsion: It was written mostly because Dahl wanted to talk about how much he hated beards (one of his more innocuous prejudices, it turns out<\/a>.) As a child, I saw the icky appeal of it all, but thought The Twits<\/em> \u2014 about a cruel and slovenly married couple and a family of magical monkeys trying to escape their imprisonment \u2014 a little too sordid to be considered a classic on the level of, say, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe Twits <\/em>has been adapted for the stage in the past, but a film version has been a long, slightly tortured time coming. A live action version was scrapped just a few years ago, but now a planned television series has been transformed into an animated film, directed (with Todd Kunjan Demong and Katie Shanahan as co-directors) by Phil Johnston, best known for writing winsome, hugely successful children\u2019s films like Wreck-It Ralph <\/a><\/em>and Zootopia<\/a><\/em>. Perhaps The Twits<\/em> offered Johnston the chance to connect with his inner garbage pail kid, allowing him to be gross and a little dangerous after the far more clean-cut, polished product of the aforementioned efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAt the start of the film, a merry revel in nastiness seems to be exactly the plan. The action has been moved up to the present day, and a new slew of characters has been introduced. But the gunky fascinations of the text remain intact. The Twits, voiced with pluck and slime by Margo Martindale and British comedian Johnny Vegas, are indeed a seedy pair, pulling mean pranks on one another, keeping adorable and highly intelligent monkeys captive, and menacing local children. They also intend to open an amusement park, with a fetid bouncy castle made of soiled mattresses and all manner of other obvious health code violations. It\u2019s all a bit more crass, and less whimsical, than Dahl\u2019s novel, but it is mostly in the vein of it, seeking to appeal to a whole new generation of young people who enjoy the muckier stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThere\u2019s not much for the rest of us, though, beyond some spirited voice performances (including one from Johnston himself) and the occasional joke that\u2019s just strange and sideways enough to register. The small handful of spare original songs, by David Byrne no less, do not make much of an impression. The look of the film is awfully sub-par when compared to the gleaming output of Disney or DreamWorks. A little of that griminess, that squalidness, is no doubt the point, but too often The Twits<\/em> looks like one of the many cheaply churned-out digitally animated movies that age pretty badly, pretty quickly. (Unfortunately most computer-animated films don\u2019t have a terribly long shelf life, at least not aesthetically.)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe additions made to the narrative \u2014 particularly the introduction of two stock-character-ish orphan kids, Beesha (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Bubsy (Ryan Lopez) \u2014 give The Twits<\/em> a generic kiddie-movie quality, as if Netflix did not think Dahl\u2019s story sufficiently relatable for today\u2019s audiences. Such has been the case with many recent Dahl adaptations, alas. The prickliness and oddity of Dahl\u2019s worlds are appreciated only up to a point. Then contemporary mores and styles must intervene.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut as The Twits<\/em> unfolds, at least one of its modern inventions does resonate in surprising fashion. Beesha and Bubsy eventually run afoul of the villains, as kids in movies always do. One would expect that their fellow citizens \u2014 of a gloomy city called Triperot \u2014 would also find the Twits distasteful, even wicked. But instead, they rally around the Twits, sold on a false message of revitalization for a city that used to be a fun place to live. The Twits, simply trying to promote their befouled business interests, launch a campaign to restore past greatness. The kids watch horrified, and then set about trying to break their elders out of their spell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhich ought to sound quite familiar here in 2025 America. This is, by my measure, the first animated children\u2019s film to make such a direct allusion to Trumpism, to the mad sweep of collective derangement that has gripped ever more people (young and old alike, sadly) over the last 10 years. That a movie for kids should seek to allegorize that \u2014 to speak specifically to the feeling of watching obviously bad people elevated to positions of power while selling a sham narrative about returning to a lost Eden \u2014 is rather remarkable. There are other, more familiar themes in the film, ones of belonging, chosen family, and practicing empathy toward even those with whom we vehemently disagree. Those are valuable too, but it\u2019s the pointed political analogy that makes The Twits <\/em>wholly distinct \u2014 not a sentence I ever thought I\u2019d write.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThat the film has such a strong, timely moral argument makes one reconsider its creative merits. After all, Alan Tudyk is<\/em> an oddball hoot as a sad-sack amphibian named Sweet Toed Toad. The magical monkeys, the Muggle-Wumps, are awfully cuddly and charming, and are given lively voice by Natalie Portman and Veep<\/em>\u2019s Timothy Simons. And hey, I also like the sentient hairballs that are coughed up by one Muggle-Wump when he is stressed; sure these fuzzy smiley faces come to life probably mostly exist for merchandising purposes, but they prove endearing nonetheless.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt\u2019s funny that a film that initially seems destined to be a minor, forgettable toss-off can suddenly distinguish itself, to the point that most of its flaws are either waved away or embraced. Of course, those on the Twits\u2019 side of things, in the film and in the real world, might say that such a perspective shift is an obvious example of lib-brained bias, of TDS (Twits Derangement Syndrome). To which I would reply: Go glue your head to the floor, why don\u2019t you.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Margo Martindale and Natalie Portman are among the voice cast for this Phil Johnston-directed version of the beloved author\u2019s ickiest book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1223713,"featured_media":1236336738,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"override_post_title":"","override_post_excerpt":"","authors":[],"contributors":[],"styled_by":[],"_image_credit":"","_wp_attachment_image_alt":"","pmc_selected_wwd_video_media":"","pmc_top_video_source":"","pmc_top_video_duration":"","wwd_top_video_source":"","wwd_top_video_duration":"","pmc_selected_featured_media":"","pmc_selected_video_media":"","pmc_selected_variety_video_media":"","variety_top_video_source":"","variety_top_video_duration":"","pmc_featured_media_has_alt_text":true,"_pmc_featured_animated_media_id":0,"_pmc_featured_video_override_data":"","_pmc_featured_video_override_url":"","_pmc_featured_video_response_data":"","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{},"pmc_list_item_description":"","primary_category":"","primary_vertical":"","_mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"","_pmc_opengraph_title":"","_pmc_opengraph_description":"","categories":59,"subcategories":114,"thr-review-summary-credits":"Release date: <\/strong>Friday, Oct. 17 (Netflix)
Cast:<\/strong> Margo Martindale, Johnny Vegas, Natalie Portman, Alan Tudyk, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan
Director<\/strong>: Phil Johnston
Co-directors:<\/strong> Todd Kunjan Demong, Kate Shanahan
Writers: <\/strong>Phil Johnson, Meg Favreau
","thr-full-credit":"Distribution: Netflix
Cast: Margo Martindale, Johnny Vegas, Natalie Portman, Alan Tudyk, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan
Director: Phil Johnston
Co-directors: Todd Kunjan Demong, Kate Shanahan
Writers: Phil Johnstone, Meg Favreau
Producers: Maggie Malone, Daisy May West
Cinematography: Todd Jansen
Production designer: Remi Salmon
Editor: Erika Dapkewicz
Music by: Oli Julian
Songs by: David Byrne
Casting: Cymbre Walk Sklar
","thr-review-mpaa-rating":"","thr-review-running-time":"1 hour 38 minutes","_synopsis":"Standard-issue, until Trumpism shows up.","_air_date":"00-00-00","pmc-imdb-id":"","pmc-review-type":"movie-reviews","pmc-review-rating":"","pmc-review-rating-out-of":"","pmc-review-snippet":"","pmc-review-title":"The Twits","pmc-review-canonical-link":"","pmc-theatrical-release-date":0,"pmc-director":"","pmc-review-image_attachment_id":0,"thr_post_headlines":"Margo Martindale and Natalie Portman are among the voice cast for this Phil Johnston-directed version of the beloved author\u2019s ickiest book.","_variety-sub-heading":"","mt_seo_title":"'The Twits' Review: Netflix's Surprisingly Timely Roald Dahl 'Toon","mt_seo_description":"'The Twits,' Netflix\u2019s latest animated film, is an oddly timely Roald Dahl adaptation voiced by Natalie Portman and Margo Martindale, among others.","mt_pmc_exclude_from_seo":"off","_pmc_canonical_override":"","instant_articles_should_submit_post":false,"_sailthru_selected_alerts":[],"_sailthru_send_override":false,"_sailthru_alert_subject":"","_sailthru_breaking_news_meta_data":[],"experimental_features_inline_styles":"","linked_video_id":"","pmc_hubs_hide_header":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_pmc_automated_related_links":{"settings":{"module_name":"Related","hide_box":0},"data":[{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true},{"url":"","id":"","title":"","automated":true}]},"overlay_text_placement":[],"overlay_text_one":[],"overlay_text_two":[],"pmc-gallery":[],"kicker_meta_block_field":[],"_pmc_kicker":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[114,59],"tags":[65188,6836,63613,63610,74052,91876],"post_format":[],"_post-options":[],"pmc_ads_suppression":[],"hashtags":[],"ep_custom_result":[],"editorial":[],"coauthors":[91401],"class_list":["post-1236399597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-movies","tag-animation","tag-margo-martindale","tag-natalie-portman","tag-netflix","tag-roald-dahl","tag-the-twits"],"apple_news_notices":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-twits-review-netflix-phil-johnston-natalie-portman-1236399597\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"‘The Twits’ Review: Netflix’s Animated Roald Dahl Adaptation Goes From Grossly Generic to Surprisingly Political","url":"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-twits-review-netflix-phil-johnston-natalie-portman-1236399597\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-reviews\/the-twits-review-netflix-phil-johnston-natalie-portman-1236399597\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/FotoJet-2025-08-04T141638.135.jpg?w=200&h=200&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/FotoJet-2025-08-04T141638.135.jpg"},"articleSection":"Movie Reviews","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Richard Lawson"}],"creator":["Richard Lawson"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Hollywood Reporter","logo":""},"keywords":["animation","margo martindale","natalie portman","netflix","roald dahl","the twits"],"dateCreated":"2025-10-14T04:00:00Z","datePublished":"2025-10-14T04:00:00Z","dateModified":"2025-10-14T04:00:00Z","pmc-gallery-linked-gallery":{}},"rendered":"