Roald Dahl's The Twits Analysis: US-Adapted Cartoon Movie Loses the Source Material's Appeal

This animated version of the beloved author's classic story The Twits proves to be just a bit more tolerable painful than consuming wriggling spaghetti or finding a toad hidden under your bed.

Dahl's tale about perhaps the most dysfunctional marriages in fiction was never burdened with storyline: the 95-page book basically consists of a sequence of cruel pranks, all monstrously distorted here and tortuously added to.

Americanization and Storyline Changes

A number of audience members have expressed outrage over the Americanization of the story, but that is the smallest of this film's problems.

In the imaginary city of the story's setting, Mrs. Twit is portrayed as a Southern figure in cowboy-style boots, discontentedly wed to Mr. Twit, who keeps his Northern English dialect.

The couple have constructed a rickety amusement park named Twitlandia, with rides constructed from toilets and old mattresses, all run by the magical tears of the Muggle-Wump monkeys.

When authorities close down the amusement park on public safety grounds, the gruesome couple declare battle with the municipality.

Storyline Weaknesses and Production Missteps

The plot is flabbier than Mr. Twit's stomach, which is a shame since it was produced, directed and partly written by Phil Johnston, whose past credits include clever and creative family animations such as an acclaimed Disney movie and a popular animated feature.

In an shocking distortion of the original story, the Twits flood the city with spoiled hotdog meat before opting to run for mayor.

And everyday working people are fooled by the Twits' promise to make their city great again, in a honestly age-inappropriate mockery of the present state of politics.

Loss of Original Spirit

All of the author's gruesome sense of fun is wiped out by a bulldozing message of empathy and kindness, thanks to a brave orphan Beesha and her pals uniting an resistance to the Twits.

This is vile and revolting in all the wrong ways.