William & Chris (2020)

*William & Chris* (also known as *Spies vs. Robots* in the United Kingdom) is an 2020 British Marcanese American computer-animated spy comedy film produced by Imageworks Entertainment for Warner Bros. Pictures and 20th Century Studios. Directed by Chris Melendari, produced by Michael J. Travers & Troy Quaine, and written by Nick Bruno; the film stars the voices of Denzel Washington, Tom Holland, Salma Hayek, Tommy Lee Jones, Tim Allen, Greg Kinnear, Rashida Jones, Trey Parker, Jack Nicholson, Octavia Spencer, and Stephen Colbert. Based on the live-action TV/film series of the same name and the animated short film *Pentagon: Impossible*, the film was released to theaters January 17, 2020 and despite it being a box office hit, it received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and fans of the franchise, whom consider it as inferior to the series. However, a sequel titled *William & Chris 2: Alien Resurgence* is slated for a May 2022 release.

## Plot

Top-notch superspy William Sterling (Denzel Washington) and geeky teen scientist Chris Walter (Tom Holland) are exact opposites: William is a suave and smooth-talking agent who uses his clever espionage skills to track down bad guys, and Chris on the other hand would be the timid young person who makes up for being William's gadget-making sidekick for what he lacks in social skills. However, when things take an unexpected turn after the Atlanta Spy Association hears of a new enemy who's planning to terrorize Washington D.C with several robots and drones, this odd couple would have to become a team in order to figure out some way of saving America once again with justice.

## Bad Qualities

1. The main problem with this film, aside from it being an almost complete rip-off of the *Marco* movies, would be the film's mediocre grasp of the source material: in the original series, William & Chris used to be rivals whom worked for other spy agencies but they slowly become friends after Dr. Bruce (the former friend of Chris who became the series' main antagonist) decides to take over the world for revenge on William. Here, they're just friends right away and sometimes they don't interact with each other despite them being friends. Also, some memorable characters from the series such as Dr. Tony Stoneman, Roxanne Lipvosky, and Bob Richie don't appear in this film at all (although Roxanne's absence is justified since she was portrayed as a sexual figure in the original series).
2. However, despite Roxanne's absence, the film really has no target audience despite it being aimed at families; and the idea of making an animated film based on an adult-oriented TV/film series isn't that much of a good idea to start things with, like how *Food Wars* somehow managed to be an adult animated film before being a family-friendly one that's terrible.
3. This film is nothing more but an obvious rip-off of the *Marco* movies and it has some similarities to Animacon's 2006 detective film *Sleuths* and the 2019 Blue Sky film *Spies In Disguise* even though this film came out a month later; however, this film is basically the inferior version of the aforementioned film.
4. The main characters are essentially inferior cardboard copies of the *Marco* characters, the film even goes as far as having some of the characters being named after them:
	* William, the series' main protagonist, has been flanderized here as someone who cares more about his passions and desires of being a talented superspy than his friends and the people around him (like how Marco at first used to be before accepting his errors as a self-centered kid). For the most part, William has Pepe's personality and even acts like him since they are both smooth-talking, suave, and carefree people.
	* Chris is technically like Marco despite him not being the protagonist and also being likeable: he is some geek with a weird personality, likes building gadgets and other inventions for espionage purposes, and is a very timid but smart teenager who dreams of becoming a top-notch genius spy despite the fact that he loves science.
	* Martha is essentially the middling version of Marlene & Stephanie: although she is nice and lovely, sometimes she gets way too sentimental if overdramatic to the point where she might easily get on your nerves. She even likes playing the "damsel-in-distress" whenever William does something that completely annoys or irritates her emotions.
	* Lance is perhaps the most flanderized character in this film: despite his clever gags about Texas (since that is where he always lived before heading to Atlanta) and his enthusiastic personality, he seems more like a complete rip-off of Michael & Ian since they all ran special agencies and became rich from a young age, and almost have the same personalities. His sheer flanderization is seen here in which Lance truly doesn't even care about the efforts that both William & Chris made when attempting to stop the criminals.
	* Terrence "Terry" Rogers is a far more obnoxious version of Abel from *Marco 2* and like William, he even acts like him in several instances of the film. Doesn't help either that here he has been *completely* dumbed down as a hugely inept fraud who steals credit from the other spies (especially from William) although he did absolutely *nothing* at all. He also has some similarities to Chuck Armstrong from *Planet 01.*
5. Even the film's villains are obvious rip-offs of the *Marco* antagonists as well, perhaps the most infamous one being Balthazar Stout: he is very obvious as a complete knock-off of Edgar from *Marco 4* as both are villians who had passion for music until their careers got ruined and they have the same expressive movements, he even goes as far as stealing Edgar's most iconic catchphrase. Dr. Pierre LeRoy and President George Coogan are Emmanuel rip-offs who have robot arms and serve as corporation tyrants/evil government officials for this film; and President Coogan's twist as the main villain was very forced and generic, neither that their own motives for terrorism in the United States are anyway good. Scarlett Johnson/First Lady is literally another carbon copy of Alondra from the original *Marco,* but even more manipulative.
6. Even though the premise seems interesting, the plot is very convoluted along with a middling script.
7. The idea of spies working together to stop invading robots and drones from terrorizing the United States is admittedly unoriginal, as some spy live-action movies such as *Robospy* and *Espionage Genius* had already done said concept before.
8. Some action scenes are lame and forgettable and they even seem like they were stolen from *Marco 4* and the original *Marco*, like when William & Chris attempt to enter Balthazar Stout's fortress and the film's climax scene in which William has to rescue Martha from Dr. LeRoy's escape pod; even the film's Arctic opening scene with Balthazar Stout rips off those of *Marco 4* and *Marco 2.*
9. The film's humor is sometimes hit-or-miss for the most part, with several terrible attempts at comedy like when William forces Chris to eat garbage food in such an egregious way considering himself as a pigeon and he even pukes in the scene where the spies dine at Queen Elizabeth's palace; other examples of bad humor include the scenes where Terry makes obnoxious farting noises and most infamously when Balthazar Stout pretends to be James Charles (a famous YouTuber who is part of the LGBTQ+ community).
10. Despite the soundtrack being good, some songs seem rather unfitting for the scenes they are in and just being there for how popular the songs are at that time: like for example, the lawnmower scene in which Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" plays in the background, and "Someone You Loved" by Lewis Capaldi playing during the end credits.
11. Some awkward and cringeworthy moments in the film, among them being when William & Chris share regurgitated food at prison and the scene where Terry chokes some bug while working on his computer.
12. Despite the voice acting being decent, Salma Hayek was miscast as Martha and Greg Kinnear & Trey Parker do arguably very poor jobs as Dr. Pierre LeRoy and Balthazar Stout respectively, although Parker's performance stands out decently.
13. Although this film has some good emotional moments, the other emotional moments are somewhat forced and generic such as those of Martha & William and Dr. LeRoy's convoluted backstory of how he became a villain (in which President Coogan's twist was very obvious since there wasn't any other terrorist in this film aside from Dr. LeRoy).
14. Several inconsistencies that absolutely don't make any sense here in this film:
	* One example would be at the beginning of the film in which Chris' best friend Anthony mutters to him *"I hate calculus"* although they are in middle school, and also the fact that Chris is a teenager who for no reason never attended high school yet.
	* Seeing that William's spy vehicle got burned thanks to Dr. LeRoy, he and Chris tell Grandpa Joe that they could take his lawnmower in order to get to Washington D.C, although they plan to take it towards the interstate highways. *Lawnmowers are made for cutting grass, not taken as cars in highways since they would probably crack the roads,* and, *how come they hadn't taken Grandpa Joe's tractor instead?*
	* There's also this pointless gag throughout the film in which Balthazar Stout turns humans into chickens despite the fact that his formula for said purpose was never introduced in this film and that being much like Owen's attempt at turning Marco's kids to mindless goons in *Marco 2*; and besides, *why are the chickens purple anyway?*
15. Some scenes can get rather inappropriate for an animated comedy film aimed at families, such as when President Coogan lusts over Scarlett Johnson/First Lady, when William stares at Martha's bottom, and a brief scene in which William stays naked after taking his shower.
16. This film is considered a major downgrade from Imageworks' previous film *Uncle Scrooge*, although this film isn't as bad as Imageworks' other misfires or terrible as *The Hoonies Go To Wonderville.*

## Good Qualities

1. Nice and smooth animation that's a major improvement from other Imageworks films like their 2019 film *Uncle Scrooge.*
2. The characters are sometimes likable despite them being *Marco* rip-offs; however, Grandpa Joe is the best character in this film thanks to Jack Nicholson's performance and his several great quotes such as **"Coffee time"** and **"Come out, come out, whenever you're ready"**, which became memes with the latter being a clever reference to *The Shining*; Peppy (Chris' pet pigeon) is a likable and cute female pigeon, and Honey Sterling is William's sweet and good-natured wife.
3. Decent voice acting from actors such as Denzel Washington, Tommy Lee Jones, and Tim Allen; although Tom Holland & Jack Nicholson make the best voice performances here as Chris and Grandpa Joe respectively.
4. Some funny if hilarious moments here and there, like the part where William & Chris first meet each other, when Grandpa Joe tells Chris his bedtime story, the aforementioned lawnmower scene, and the car chase scene in which Peppy conducts the steering wheel.
5. The ending was heartwarming, as William & Chris apologize and hug each other after choosing to retire from espionage in order to spend time with Honey at Palm Beach.
6. While some action scenes are lame, the other action scenes like the midnight car chase scene are very well done.
7. Great soundtrack from Mark Ronson, despite some songs that don't fit well into each scene.
8. Some hilarious dialogue lines, such as Lance's **"You're double, triple, quadruple-fired!"**

## Reception

### Critical reception

*William & Chris* was met with largely mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and fans of the franchise, whom deemed it as one of the worst animated films of 2020. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an average rating score of 45% based on 575 reviews with an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Although this marks Denzel Washington's first time in an animated film, this film serves nothing more but as an obvious *Marco* rip-off that isn't satisfyingly undemanding spy fare either" According to Metacritic, the film holds a score of 32 out of 100, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews" Audiences polled by CinemaScore assigned the film a "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

### Box office

*William & Chris* grossed a worldwide total of $173.6 million against a $85 million budget, slightly surpassing *Dingo 2* at the box office in January 2020. The film became the highest-grossing animated film of 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 6th highest-grossing film in the franchise, and the highest-grossing film from Imageworks Entertainment.

## Trivia

* This was the second film from Imageworks Entertainment to be released after the studio's temporary closure in April 2010 following *Uncle Scrooge* in December 2019.