My Problems With The Loud House Movie

 

Okay, so this is a project that’s been a long time coming. I held off on talking about this film in detail, because I’ve been struggling with my thoughts on the movie, and what exactly I can say about it. Well, I’ve finally figured it out now, so let’s get this review started.

The Loud House Movie was a movie released on Netflix on August 20, 2021, about Lincoln Loud and his family taking a trip to Scotland. It was the show’s first full-length film. And much like most Loud House productions, it was released with a mixed reception. Some people loved it, other people hated it, and some had a middling opinion. When I first watched it, I thought it was a fun time, but now that I’ve had some time re-watch it, listen to some reviews on it (I recommend the ones made by The Alpha Jay Show, Just Stop, LS Mark, and Yoshi Player), and consider where it stands to the show, in terms of enjoyment, my opinions have changed quite a bit. And considering that it was this movie’s first anniversary a few days ago, now’s as good a time to get this out as any.

I’ll start out by stating that, I don’t hate this movie, but it’s still not that good, and it has some problems that are too big to sweep under the rug. From character shafting to contradicting storylines, there’s more wrong with this movie than meets the eye, and as a Loud House fan myself, I feel I have grounds to talk about why that is.

Now, like I just said, this movie isn’t terrible, and there are things to praise about it. I’ll even list them below right now:

The Opening Montage: I’m not gonna beat around the bush: This is the best part of the whole movie. It does such a good job of establishing the origin behind these characters in a way that is easy for newcomers to the show to understand. Rita and Lynn Sr. were two crazy kids in love, they got married, brought a rather small house, and had 11 children: Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lincoln (the only boy), Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily. They also make an excellent callback to the season 2 episode “L is for Love”, where it was revealed that Rita asked Lynn Sr. out via secret admirer notes. Considering how hit or miss this show is with how much it cares about its continuity, it was pretty great to see. Plus, it’s really cute to see each baby version of the LKs (Loud Kids), especially watching the 5 eldest Loud Ladies interacting with Baby Lincoln. This movie starts off well in establishing that Loud Family is a family that truly cares about each other and are people that love one another.

Angus: Of the new characters introduced in this movie, Angus was easily the best. A jolly, kind-hearted groundskeeper who’s friends with everyone in Loch Loud, and serves as a source of support and direction for Lincoln as he goes on this journey to find himself. Some of my favorite moments are just Angus and Lincoln interacting. Dare I say it, Angus comes off as a better father figure than Lincoln’s actual dad. At least, in this movie. Plus he’s voiced by 2017 Scrooge McDuck, so he’s obviously gonna be great.

The Songs: Not everyone will agree with me on this, but I thought most of the songs were pretty great in this movie, and ones I wouldn’t mind listening to again. The only ones I wasn’t into were The Loud Castle because it suffers from a problem I’ll get into later, and Morag’s villain song, which just isn’t that great sounding.

That Scene Where the LKs unintentionally foil Morag’s cleaning: This scene felt more in line with what we see in the actual show. And I like how it shows that all the chaos the LKs cause Morag is totally unintentional with no malicious intent.

The Louds vs Morag battle: This was another scene that felt more in line with the show, since each sister (Except Lana, for some reason) got a moment to contribute. Considering what we're about to discuss, this was a good time for them to get some meaningful screen time.

Okay, I think that about covers the positives. Now let’s get into the issues I have with this movie, and while there aren’t that many, they are pretty big and bring the enjoyment value down quite a bit.

Problem #1: Lincoln’s story arc is poorly executed: Now, I'm not gonna say that Lincoln's plot in this story would have never worked, but the way it's executed here didn't work.

The Loud House movie wants to make Lincoln seem selfish but only in-story selfish, so that, we the audience, still like him. Opting to actually listen to Angus saying he should start doing good deeds to help the people of Loch Loud, instead of actually standing his ground and playing with Lily, like we would normally expect a selfish person to do. On top of that, any selfish deeds that he actually exhibits are padded by comfort from the people around him. What I mean by that is that when Lincoln screws up near the middle of the movie, the only truly negative reaction he gets is from the townspeople complaining that he messed the town up, despite the fact that they elected this 11-year-old child to be their leader within only one or two days. Compare that to episodes like Making the Case and Out on a Limo, where despite not being great episodes, handled Lincoln being selfish a lot better. There, Lincoln was actually very jerky and did things that most people wouldn't defend, and those he cared about actually felt the negative effects of his actions and said as much, so Lincoln had a better chance to soak up the idea that he was a jerk, as well as the consequences of his behavior, and try his best to fix his mistakes, whereas here, Lincoln's family show hardly any pushback to any of Lincoln's decisions and coddle him at nearly every turn, and he doesn't even try to fix his mistakes or any of the stuff he broke until the end of the movie.

The movie is also written to make Lincoln both aware of and blind to his incredibly amazing/special skill set. Because there are times when Lincoln will state that he's the man with the plan, and is pretty much portrayed as the most competent member of the Loud Family, but the rest of the time, he's moping that he's a nobody and his sisters are so much better than he is, and I can't humor him, because the things he does/accomplishes are so amazing (Getting nine of his sisters to their events on time and all on the same day, Transporting his family across the world with the budget of a quarter or less, becoming the Duke within a day, because he convinced his family to move to Scotland permanently because extra bathrooms.) and Lincoln is so confident when he enacts them, that his moping doesn't come off as endearing to me, it comes off as frustrating. Him being outshined by his sisters in Loch Loud would have had much more impact if I didn't see him doing such helpful and awesome stuff before they got there, and even while they were there.

If you want to have a movie where Lincoln feels like he's worthless and him getting a big ego because of a status he gained, then don't have him do such amazing things, let him actually be a jerk, and have the people he cares about the most, show real pushback to his behavior. As is, the way Lincoln is portrayed here comes off as the writers wanting to have its cake and eat it too.

Problem #2: The Activity Scene: My next issue with this movie is a scene near the beginning of the movie, that doesn’t seem bad at first glance, but when you stop to analyze it, is missing a lot of what made The Loud House work so well in its first few seasons.

The Loud Sisters all have activities and events happening today, and after Rita and Lynn Sr. have a brief freak-out session, Lincoln takes charge of the situation. He gives each sister their equipment, gives his parents directions on where to drive to, and hangs on to all of their trophies.

[Lola notices Lincoln taking the crown off her head.]

Lola: "Uh-uh!" [slaps Lincoln's hand and takes it back]

Lincoln: "Ow!"

Lola: "Hands off!"

Well, most of their trophies. And at the end of it all, Lincoln’s parents thank him for helping them out and say he knows how to keep the Loud Family running smoothly.

So yeah, that sounds like a regular Loud House moment, doesn’t it? What kind of problems could I possibly have with it? Well, truth be told, this moment reminds me of the episode “Project Loud House”, and not exactly in a good way.

Project Loud House was another episode where Lincoln took charge and tried to get his sisters ready for school on time. But what made it work exceedingly well in that episode was that it was chaotic and unpredictable. Lincoln could be resolving a fight between Lana and Lola one moment, helping Lucy with a poem the next, and avoiding a Luan prank the moment after that. Everything happens at such a fast, yet steady pace, that we can never predict what thing comes after another. Not to mention that even though Lincoln has a plan, he also has to do some serious improvisation with what his sisters throw at him, and on top of all that, he has his own goal in mind with his school report, so we feel happy for him when he manages to overcome his obstacles, and even happier, when his sisters do him a solid and recreate his diorama for him.

In the movie, it just feels so base-level and formulaic. Whereas PLH was much more impactful, due to the chaotic nature, fast but steady pacing, and quirky and funny character interactions, the movie sequence just feels like it’s going through the motions. After they equip themselves, the sequence becomes a 4-step montage: Characters drive to location, sister dominates their activity, Lincoln hangs on to their trophy, rinse and repeat. It feels rather boring and repetitive.

Also, it makes Rita and Lynn Sr. look pretty incompetent. Not Brawl In The Family incompetent, and DEFINITELY not No Such Luck incompetent, but pretty darn close. Because throughout the sequence, they act like it’s their first time tackling a situation like this when in actuality, this should be a regular Tuesday for them at this point. In Project Loud House, Rita left the house early to go to her job, and Lincoln gave Lynn Sr. the day off voluntarily, but here, Lincoln is essentially the only parent of the Loud Family stuck in a kid’s body. And that brings me to my next issue.

Problem #3: The cast’s actions almost always revolve around Lincoln: Remember when I said Lincoln’s family hardly showed any pushback for his actions? That’s exemplified perfectly by how they're written. What made the Loud Family such a great unit of characters was that they were all very passionate, opinionated, and had different interests from each other that spawned tons of memorable interactions and banter, but in the movie, they’re more or less interchangeable with each other, aside from Lincoln, and also Lily. Let me demonstrate by explaining just how the Louds get to Scotland in the first place.

When the Louds find out all of the money in their tip jar is gone, they pretty much all give up and Lincoln has to come up with a Mission Impossible-style plan to get past airport security, travel in the baggage section of a plane (Which, no doubt resulted in some concussions.) skydive from a very high altitude, take several other methods of transportation, including a hot air balloon which lands in the ocean, near a very coincidentally placed submarine, which takes them all the way to Scotland.

The two main problems with this scene are 1, the idea that Lincoln still thinks he’s not special or that his family doesn’t appreciate him doesn't work because once they get to Scotland, they praise him for his plan. And 2, his sisters aren’t portrayed as the super-talented super stars Lincoln thinks they are or the creative, headstrong characters we KNOW they are. I guarantee you that each member of the Loud Family would totally be able to think of a way to raise money for a vacation, no matter how expensive it may be. Do you know why? Because they’ve done it before, in the season 3 episode, Tripped!

While this episode isn’t as revered or admired as much as Project Loud House is, it still got the dynamic of the Loud Family down pat. We see that each Loud contributed to help raise money for this vacation, and throughout their journey to get there, each of them gets a chance to do something to either get past an obstacle or show off their personality.

In the movie, none of Lincoln’s sisters get ANY moments to contribute to their Scotland voyage with their unique abilities, which not only would have given them more to do but would have also helped illustrate how Lincoln’s sisters are actually as super-amazing as Lincoln says they are, as they constantly one-up his ideas and attempts to contribute, instead of him doing everything but still feeling like his sisters overshadow him.

This problem comes back near the middle portion of the film when Lincoln tries to convince his family to move to Scotland. And despite knowing that they have lives back in Royal Woods, and Lincoln is only rallying for this decision so he can become the Duke, they immediately jump on board with it after Lincoln mentions their original house only has one bathroom. I don’t think I need to explain why this is such a poor and out-of-character writing decision, but I will anyway. The Louds moving away from Royal Woods is not something that should be treated as a joke. This is their home where they’ve lived, prospered, and become better people for 6 seasons and counting. If the one bathroom was such an issue, then they could have just found a new house with more bathrooms in Royal Woods. The Louds, Lincoln included, being so willing to ditch their friends, jobs, hobbies, and everything they had in Michigan is just so not like them. Not to mention, the girls knew Lincoln had selfish motives behind his request to move, but as soon as the bathroom is involved, they immediately forget that and start enabling Lincoln’s desires. If you want to have the Louds actually move away from their hometown, you need to give actual reasons why the other location is a better fit for them and not just some cheap joke about an easily solvable issue.

None of the other family members really feel like their original characters in this movie. They just feel like people who will follow Lincoln in whatever he wants to do, with only the bare minimum of their traits on display, and that really sucks the enjoyment out of this movie for me.

Problem #4: Stuff that’s set up isn’t properly followed up on: This issue is admittedly more minor than the first three, but I still wanted to talk about it, nonetheless. The movie sets up two side stories, one about Bobby thinking Lori broke up with him due to a poor internet connection and the other about Leni falling in love with a guy named Scott. (This was spawned from a gag where Leni thought everyone in Scotland was named Scott.) And spoiler alert: Neither of these go anywhere for the entire feature. After his scene, Bobby doesn’t appear again until the very end of the movie, right before the credits, and when does, Lori is already leaving. And Leni and Scott only get a few brief scenes of them hanging out with no indication of who Scott is as a character.

These don’t feel like endings to heartwarming side quests. These feel like lazy endings that were thought up at the last minute.

You want to do a story where Bobby has to travel to Scotland to win back Lori’s heart? Fine. But actually show him going through that journey. How does he get there? Does he meet anyone along the way? And also, have Lori be in the same place Bobby is when he arrives, so she can clear up the misunderstanding and reassure Bobby that she loves him, and always will, no matter what. That way, it has a satisfying ending.

As for Leni and Scott, give them a few moments where they actually talk and do things together, so the audience gets some insight as to who Scott is as a person and why he would be such a good fit for Leni. Without that, there’s nothing for anyone to really get invested in.

As is, these story bits don’t go anywhere and don’t leave any real impact. And once again, have been done way better in the actual show.

So those are my main issues with The Loud House Movie. I could also talk about other things like how flawed Morag’s plan is, how the dragons and ghosts come off as plot contrivances, Scottish Leni missing Scott is not proper grounds for the “We know!” it receives, or even how the huge setting works against the original family dynamic, but those have already been talked about by other people in greater detail, (See the second paragraph.) and these are just the issues that bugged me the most.

The Loud House movie suffers from the same issue as a movie like Big World, Big Adventures, in that it misunderstands what made the show so great in the first place, only does the bare minimum, and tries to get the plot to work in very forced and contrived ways. The characters feel like diet versions of their original selves, and everything they do is in service of a plot that isn’t a good fit for the character starring in it. All the story and plot concepts in this movie have been done before and a lot better in the show. If I wanted to see a production where Lincoln wants to achieve something, or a production where all the LKs get introduced or a production where Lori and Bobby have communication problems, or a production where they go on vacation, I can just watch certain episodes that gave the show its reputation in the first place. And it feels like the only way people can really enjoy this movie is if they don’t focus on or think about these elements, but I do.

While this movie DOES have good aspects to it, as I went over in the beginning, they can’t save what is generally a very frustrating and underwhelming experience. Trust me, when I say you’re better off watching preferably the first four seasons of The Loud House because despite having a shorter run time of 11 minutes, or 22 in some cases, they manage to pack more punch than this movie could in an hour and 27 minutes.

The Loud House Movie gets a 6/10 from me. It’s not the worst movie ever, but it sure does leave a lot to be desired.

But hey, that’s just me. If you liked the movie more than I did, that’s totally fine. I just wanted to get my feelings for it off my chest. If you guys have any thoughts on my thoughts, please let me know in the comments. And if you want to check out any of the YouTubers I mentioned before, I’ll link their reviews at the end.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time! Bye!

The Alpha Jay Show's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGBdljf2sUs&t=3612s

Just Stop and LS Mark's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElW8uXSEhv4&t=390s

Yoshi Player's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaAia8gyzTU&t=9s