Twits, The

Story

Mr and Mrs Twit (voices of Johnny Vegas and Margo Martindale) are a nasty couple who enjoy playing cruel tricks on other people. When their town of Triperot loses its position as the ‘best place to have fun’, the Twits decide to capitalise on this and create a theme park called Twitlandia. But before Twitlandia opens, it’s condemned and the Twits take revenge on the town. They fill the water tower with hot dog meat and flood the town with a pink, meaty substance.

Meanwhile, in an orphanage run by kind and gentle Mr Napkin (Phil Johnston), the children are determined to discover who has caused the mayhem in their town. Beesha (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), the oldest child, is smart and caring, although she’s dealing with issues of abandonment. Beesha takes care of a young boy called Bubsy (Ryan Anderson Lopez), and together they manage to outsmart the Twits by playing their own tricks.

Themes

Orphans; good versus evil; fantasy; abandonment; children and animals in peril

Violence

The Twits has a lot of slapstick violence, with characters knocking into each other, hitting one another, falling down and more. Other examples of violence in this movie include the following:

There are explosions when the Twits blow up the water tower with hot dog meat. A man runs ahead of the pink flood and is rescued just in time.
The Twits are arrested by the police, who manhandle them and throw them to the ground.
Mrs Twit regularly threatens to put the children into a pie and eat them for supper. Mr Twit traps birds on a glue base to turn them into bird pie.
Mrs Twit grabs Bubsy, and Beesha grabs him by the other end. There’s a tug-of-war until a Muggle-Wump (a monkey-like creature) arrives. The Muggle-Wump hits Mrs Twit with his tail many times.
The Twits fall from the top storey of a building and land in a dumpster.
Mr Napkin is scooped up in an excavator.
The local mayor eats cake made by Mrs Twit, and his bottom explodes.
The children awake to loud explosions and discover that the Twits are attacking their orphanage. The children are sealed inside the building, which is eventually towed away by the Twits.
The Twits blow up Twitlandia with fireworks, which they also fire at the people.

Sexual references

The Twits has some sexual references. For example, the Twits flirt a lot.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

There’s no use of substances in The Twits.

Nudity and sexual activity

The Twits has some nudity and sexual activity. For example, the Twits strip Mr Napkin down to his underpants.

Product placement

There’s no product placement in The Twits.

Coarse language

The Twits has some coarse language, name-calling and insults, including ‘jeez’, ‘butt’, ‘bum’, ‘shut up’, ‘fart’, ‘good lord’, ‘holy smoke’, ‘stupid dunces’, ‘brats’, ‘crapkin’, ‘old wombat’, ‘idiot’ and ‘butt cheek twit’. Characters also talk about the mayor’s ‘butt’ exploding.

Ideas to discuss with your children

The Twits is an animated movie based on the book by Roald Dahl. It’s full of potty humour, slapstick violence and mean adult characters, who are contrasted to the empathetic and smart child characters.

The Twits has a lot of violence and scary scenes, plus some heavy themes related to child abandonment. This means it isn’t suitable for children aged under 8 years. It’s better suited to children aged over 10 years.

These are the main messages from The Twits:

It’s better to live in a world full of love and care than hate and anger.
Family isn’t who you’re related to but who you care about and who cares about you.

Values in The Twits that you could reinforce with your children include empathy, care for others, courage, friendship, teamwork and forgiveness. The movie also emphasises the importance of using your brain to overcome problems, asking others for help when you need it, and standing up for what’s right.

The Twits could give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life questions and issues like the following:

The Twits are cruel and wicked people, who don’t want to change. Do you think the Twits get what they deserve in the end?
The Twits treat the Muggle-Wumps cruelly. You could talk about animal rights and the importance of understanding that animals are sentient creatures that deserve kind and caring treatment.
Mrs Muggle-Wump tells Beesha that when you desperately want something to be true, it’s easy to convince yourself that it is. You could talk about the difference between reality and imagination.