^{Credit: The Twits (Netflix)}

His books have defined generations, but Roald Dahl never talked down to children. Not only could his books be darkly comedic, but the best were gleefully mean-spirited. Dahl wasn’t afraid to populate his stories with despicable characters. Yet, his books always had at least one pure of heart character, be it Charlie, Matilda, or James. The Twits was almost an outlier in his bibliography. The book did have some sympathetic characters in the Muggle-Wumps, the monkeys that the Twists imprison. For the most part, though, the book was a series of episodes where two heinous individuals make life miserable for each other and the world around them.

It was a fun read, but how do you adapt a story like that into a feature? Director Phil Johnston (Ralph Breaks the Internet) starts by adding two orphans named Beesha (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and Bubsy (Ryan Lopez). At first, I feared that The Twits might veer too far from its source material. For all of the new additions, Johnston stays true to an overarching message across Dahl’s books: most adults are evil, stupid, and out to get you. The Twits live up to that description with Margo Martindale and Johnny Vegas having a ball as the gruesome twosome. While the Twits are the most revolting characters here, they aren’t the only ignorant adults.

Early in the film, Bubsy is almost adopted, although the couple has a change of heart at the last second, deciding they don’t want a child who drank contaminated water. It’s so cruel that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Beesha and Bubsy do find an unlikely family with the Muggle-Wumps, Mary (Natalie Portman) and Marty (Timothy Simons). The orphans free the monkeys from the Twits’ amusement park, which is such a safety hazard that it’s condemned before even being inspected. While the comedy here mostly hits its mark, The Twits can get a little heavy in the commentary department.

To get the Muggle-Wumps back, the Twits find themselves running for mayor, making promises to the public that they have no intention of keeping. Beesha assumes that no adult would be stupid enough to vote for such obvious liars, but how many times have you heard that in the past decade? Although the film remains grounded in fiction, it’s not hard to draw real-world comparisons, with the Twits representing Trump, the Muggle-Wumps serving as detained immigrants, and the kids as the generation who’ll have to clean up the mess the boomers left behind. The commentary shouldn’t be too surprising, as Johnson also co-wrote Zootopia.

As timely as The Twits is, it may have one too many morals. It additionally works in life lessons about the true meaning of family, taking care of your mental health, and being empathetic to others, even those who never learn. These are all good messages that are mostly well conveyed. In a film that clocks in at just 98 minutes, though, The Twits tries to say so much that it can come off as unfocused. The script could’ve done with one less moral and fewer references to Loompaland. It’s clear that Netflix wants to make a Dahl cinematic universe, although we’re thankfully spared a post-credits scene where Willy Wonka says, “I'm here to talk to you about the Gobstopper Initiative.”

Netflix previously produced The Willoughbys, an adaptation of Lois Lowry’s book that can only be described as Dahl-esque. While not as consistent as that movie, The Twits is an enjoyable family film with an edgy sense of humor and bleakly whimsical animation from Jellyfish Pictures, which also worked on several DreamWorks productions. The voice cast is top-notch, with Emilia Clarke, Jason Mantzoukas, and Alan Tudyk rounding out the cast. Most importantly, the filmmakers allow the Twits to be twits. In an age where so many studios are neutering villains, the Twits could’ve been toned down. In perhaps the film’s most effective lesson, though, we’re reminded that some people will always be nasty.

Nick Spake is the Author of Bright & Shiny: A History of Animation at Award Shows Volumes 1 and 2. Available Now!