Family Pack is an adventure ride where a family accidentally time travels after trying to play a card game. The game, called Werewolves, is essentially a role-playing game, where a designated person gives each player a card, which states their role on it. This is the game Jerome used to play when he was little, and hoped his family would join. However, his father, who is suffering from what seems to be Alzheimer’s, can’t remember the rules he set up. Never mind the rules; he can’t even remember his son’s name, so I’m not sure why Jerome would hope for such a thing. Anyway, Jerome gives each family member a card; he’s the seer, his father’s the hunter, his elder daughter Clara is the little girl (whatever that means), and Theo, the son, is a thief. While he’s distributing the cards, the family gets distracted, and we don’t get to see what his wife Marie, his youngest daughter Louise (or Loulou) get. But, before they can even start playing the game, Clara leaves to do a live stream, Gilbert (the dad) takes a nap, and Louise complains she’s hungry. So much for playing. With everybody gone, Jerome decides to shut the game and lock it, but when he turns the werewolf at the center of the game, everything begins to shake and everybody has to take cover. What happens after this earthquake-like situation? Let’s quickly find out.
Spoiler Alert
Where Does the Family End Up?
The family hides in the bunker in Gilbert’s house, and when they emerge, Clara’s missing. Marie suggests they head to the village, where a festival is taking place, and as soon as they step out of the house, they notice that it looks completely different. This should be enough for them to realize that they’ve time traveled, but they think heading into the village festival will help them figure out what’s happened. Of course, when they get there, everybody is dressed in 15th-century clothing because they’ve been transported to 1497 in a game of Werewolves. Anyway, the family gets to watch an actual execution, freaks out, and runs back home to find that Clara’s gone invisible, which means they all have their powers from the game. Now the house they’re in belongs to an ancestor of Gilbert who happens to have been caught for being a wizard, soon to be burned at the stake. So, naturally, the knights think these guys are witches and wizards too. However, Jerome saves the day by pretending they’re a minstrel group called The Minstrettes. With a lute he saw in the house, Jerome impresses the sheriff, and the family is safe for the moment. Additionally, Gilbert is able to remember everything clearly as a time traveler. I suppose it comes from being a “strong” hunter, or maybe it’s just the game that makes you yourself again.
When night falls, the villagers are sent home packing because this is when the werewolves come out. Now remember we didn’t know what Marie and Loulou’s roles were? Louise’s happens to be a werewolf, and at night she turns inside the house, but Gilbert holds her down using his hunter powers and saves the day. Jerome can hear people’s thoughts, while the next day Theo learns that when he steals someone’s things, he can shapeshift into them using said object. So if he stole a soldier’s helmet and wore it, he’d transform into that soldier. Definitely a useful power to have.
What Is The Meaning Of Everybody’s Powers?
What’s interesting is that everybody’s powers have something to do with what they’re searching for in the future. For example, Gilbert thinks he’s weak, so he’s strong in 1497. Clara’s is especially interesting because her biggest fear in the present day is becoming invisible because she sells things online and has to be chronically online or she becomes “invisible” and everything falls apart. Theo’s in search of his identity; there’s a ridiculous joke at the beginning of the film when Gilbert calls him a girl. It’s all mostly played off as unserious, but later, when Theo shows his power to his mother, she tells him that she knows he’s in search of his identity, but she doesn’t want him to use his powers anymore because she’s afraid he won’t be able to go back to himself. I guess for Jerome, he has trouble understanding the family, you know, dads, so he has the power to read minds. Loulou being a werewolf probably has something to do with needing attention. Like at the beginning, she was desperately hungry, but nobody bothered giving her any actual food. Another thing to note is that Clara is Jerome’s daughter from a wife that died, and Theo is Marie’s son. They had Loulou together.
How Can the Family Escape?
Gilbert now remembers the one important rule of the game: if you kill the werewolves, you get to go home. There are 4 werewolf cards, but how will they make it back without killing Loulou? We’ll just have to wait to see. The family discussion is interrupted when an intruder overhears this conversation about them being from the future. The guy’s called Piero, and he’s Italian. Piero seems like a nice enough guy, and so the family allows him to make a new skin for Clara. This is essentially a rubber solution she has to step inside. He paints her features in, and this should’ve been a hint to who he really is, but we’ll get there at the end. The family then starts to figure out who the werewolves are using their powers and the hints Clara noticed the previous night while trying to save Loulou from trouble.
Why is Marie caught?
Marie’s a lawyer in the real world, and when she notices a woman being beaten up by her husband, she completely loses it and shows the whole village how she can read and write. But worse, she speaks about divorce (yikes)! Marie is then sent to be burned at the stake with Gilbert’s ancestor. Just before the execution, Jerome shows up with his lute and 1497 version of an amplifier to sing a final song for his wife. This is obviously a distraction, so Marie can be set free. It works wonderfully, and the village proves why we’re obsessed with musicians. As you know, teamwork makes the dream work, and the family manages to escape. Piero then tells them to hide in the church, where there’s a basement-like space where he’s built a secret tunnel accessible with a code. He gives them the code to enter the tunnel and save themselves. But before they can get out, a werewolf drops in.
How Does the Family Return?
Somehow, for all this time, Loulou’s headphones and tablet haven’t run out of charge, and they get her to listen to some music so she doesn’t turn. This is after Gilbert, Theo and Clara, fight off the wolves, protecting their family. But they aren’t strong enough. At that moment the sheriff shows up with his bow and arrow; however, he points them at the family instead of the wolf because she’s his wife. He has the power of “cupid,” which means if she dies, he dies too. The sheriff’s been trying to catch the other werewolves to save himself and his wife too, I guess.
This is when Loulou’s headphones go out of charge and she turns too, but Jerome and Marie sing to her, making her remember who she is on the inside. So Loulou remembers whose side she’s on and tries to fight the massive werewolf. Of course, the older one is too strong for her, and she pushes her against a wall. Louise lands on the floor as a human again, but with her card in her hand. Are you wondering what Marie’s power is yet? Well, it’s her love for her daughter that pushes her to the brink, and she comes into her role as a powerful witch. Marie defeats the other werewolf and brings her daughter back to consciousness. Everybody’s cards appear in their hands, including the soldier’s, which means they must be playing the game too.
In Family Pack’s ending, the family says goodbye to Gilbert’s ancestor and Piero, who turns out to be Da Vinci. Jerome tells his guy to buy everything Piero paints. Also, Piero is kind of in love with Jerome, but we’ll soon see what that really means. Everybody places their cards back in the game, and they’re back to 2024. Gilbert’s back to having forgotten things, but he asks his son if he’s losing his mind because he remembers seeing knights and werewolves, but they reassure him. There’s a letter in Gilbert’s hand that Jerome takes. He had written this in 1497 to give to Jerome as they returned. It’s essentially a letter of gratitude for having spent time with his son as “normal” again, even if it wouldn’t last. The letter also contains everything Gilbert remembers about his life, and he hopes his son can tell him all about it at some point. Oh, and the Mona Lisa now looks like Jerome (I told you we’ll get back to it).
Family Pack shows how sometimes you just have to listen to each other to be close as a family. Everyone gets stuck in their own thing, but when a crisis arises, the family is able to come together and save the day, everybody with their own individualistic strengths. Just how it is in real life too.
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