Netflix’s “The Twits” tries to push a lot of comedic mileage out of things that little ones usually find grossly funny—so many butt jokes—but also pivots to unexpected political commentary about the state of things in 2025. For “Wreck-It Ralph” director Phil Johnston, the idiots have taken over the system, forcing cruelty on their constituents and acting out of vengeance and self-preservation. It does not seem coincidental that Johnston has taken one of Roald Dahl’s slightest novels and turned it into a story of mob think that suggests only the empathy of orphan children can save us from the real twits of this world.
Johnston uses the foundation of Dahl’s 1980 tale of a couple of idiots who play pranks on each other to stay entertained—a story that Dahl reportedly wrote because he hated beards, of all things—and built it out into his own universe, complete with new songs by the legendary David Byrne (which, save for the final credits one, are surprisingly forgettable). Some of it feels rushed and repetitive, but there’s a reasonable amount of ambition to admire here, especially compared to other streaming original films for the family.
Mr. and Mrs. Twit (Johnny Vegas & Margo Martindale) live in the once-magical town of Triperot, a tourist destination that has become rundown after the lake dried up. They tried and failed to launch an amusement park called Twitlandia, but it failed miserably due to safety concerns and an infestation of Muggle-Wumps, leading to lives of increasing resentment. To take the town back, they end up trying to run for mayor against a colorful incumbent named Wayne John John-John (Jason Mantzoukas, an always-welcome vocal presence). When they cross paths with a couple of wise children that Dahl would have loathed, named Beesha (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Bubsy (Ryan Lopez), their plans for dominance are thwarted.
Of course, all of this is peppered with some of the out-there ideas of the man who inspired “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “Matilda,” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” They include the Sweet-Toed Toad, voiced wonderfully by Alan Tudyk, and a pair of Muggle-Wumps named Marty (Timothy Simons) and Mary (Natalie Portman), who Beesha and Bubsy can understand simply because they’re empathetic enough to do so. When Marty gets scared, he essentially projectile vomits furry little dudes that look like Tribbles from “Star Trek.” This is a deeply silly movie, but its quirkiness ends up being one of its greatest assets. When it’s being goofy or biting, it works. It’s the heartstring-pulling that feels manipulative and not really of a piece with the rest of the project or Dahl’s vision.
Although he probably would have liked the middle finger to the establishment at the core of this project. It will likely go over the heads of toddlers, but lines like “I’m starting to think maybe we should have listened to our daughter instead of the two strangers we saw getting arrested on the news” are clearly meant to be read as commentary on the current state of things outside of Triperot. Some of it feels a bit underdeveloped, but the suggestion that we could all be living in Twitlandia if we don’t find deeper wells of empathy on all sides feels like a valuable one.
At first, it might be a little upsetting for Dahl fans to see how Johnston has taken a story of “What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays” and turned it into an empowering tale of found family about orphans so sweet that they can talk to animals. There is a sense at times that Johnston has over-compensated for Dahl’s cynicism with his wondrous children and their magical friends, and a bit too much of “The Twits” feels like it desperately wants us to love Beesha and Bubsy, even if they’re kind of shallowly conceived and designed. The animators and writers are having too much fun on the fringe with the tongue-twisting toad and Mayor John John-John’s exploding butt. Yes, that says “exploding butt.” I dare you to tell me this isn’t about politics in the 2020s.
