This rather sweet time-travel comedy evokes welcome memories of the French classic Visiteur, especially with the latter’s star, Jean Reno, on board. This time, he’s headed in the opposite direction, as a demented grandfather sent back to 1497 after playing a Jumanji-esque game of magic with his family. The film is based on the card game The Werewolves of Mirrors Hollow, but it has a kind of cheerful spontaneity that keeps it from becoming too cynical for a giant extended advertisement.
Gilbert (Lino) finds his mind restored after crash-landing in the Middle Ages, even though his home has been transformed into a wooden hut. That’s not all. Each member of the family is given powers related to their role in the game. As a hunter, he has superhuman strength. His son Jerome (Frank Dubosc) is a seer and can read minds. And his influencer granddaughter Clara (Lisa de Couto Texeira) has now disappeared (an old satire). Although they are horrified by the execution of the supposed sorcerer, they realize that in order to win the game and return to the future, they must identify and kill the town’s werewolves.
While it doesn’t have the double-edged sting of Les Visiteurs, which simultaneously aimed at old-fashioned times and 20th-century absurdity, Family Pack has plenty of old-school Bill and Ted style. Particularly interesting from a feminist perspective is the scene in which Marie (Suzanne Clément), a lawyer and mother, sacrifices herself in order to defend the battered wives (or all the wives) in her village. And for a family film, sexuality is also dealt with (sensibly), with Bruno Gourie playing the oblique role of an Italian neighbor who doesn’t share the same tastes as the other villagers.
The plot is a bit Route 1 as the family pursues a group of pudgy beastmen à la Maurice Sendak (done with practical effects rather than CGI). But this is a perfectly accurate board game adaptation, as long as it’s well packaged and undemanding fun.
Family Pack will be available on Netflix from October 23rd.
