Phyllis Buckman is a major character who appears in the 2021 Disney+ original film Flora & Ulysses.
Background[]
Phyllis is Flora's 36-year-old mother who serves as a romance novelist. She is shown to mostly write stories about love, as all the Buckmans had love and ever since her husband moved out, she couldn't write a story just as she started writing words that have J on it using a pen instead of using the J key to type. Some of Phyllis' books include Electric Love or A Haunted Affair, books which she published, even without using a computer to write her stories. In spite of this, she is not fond of having rodents in her house such as the case of Ulysses whom she thinks he is a pest in the household. However, she later understands Ulysses' unique ability of what no other squirrel can do, which she trusts him for his actions.
Role in the film[]
Phyllis approaches her daughter Flora who is happy that she is reading the books she bought her just before she introduces her daughter to her typewriter, explaining that she is writing her story set in the 1920s just as Flora narrates that her mother is a romance novelist who writes stories about love and romance and ever since her husband move out, Phyllis could not write anything. Later when Flora returns home where she encounters her mother who is working on her story using her typewriter just before she tells her daughter to turn the Jack and Rose figures so they can point at her. During dinner, Phyllis tells her daughter that The Herald is doing a piece on her next book, telling her daughter that she can be inspired by from what a newspaper article does in headlining her mother's book. Phyllis then suggests her daughter on going to the mall with her, telling her to make new friends just before going to bed.
The next day, Phyllis notices that the paper on her typewriter has text written by Ulysses, upset that the paper is for her work, just before Flora takes the paper upstairs, much to Phyllis' worry. She later approaches her neighbor Tootie Tickham who introduces her nephew William Spiver who is spending the summer, which the conversation is interrupted when she sees Ulysses in the house. Phyllis attempts to ward him off with a tennis racket, only for Flora to defend him. Later when her husband George enters, she then notices Flora hiding Ulysses to avoid getting notices, just as she tells him that she has work to do and to get Ulysses out of the house using a box, thinking that the squirrel is a nuisance to her.
After George and Flora return home, George tries to cover up his claims to cover up the case of getting rid of the squirrel, which he tells his wife that he "took out the wasp's nest" instead just before her husband returns to work. The next day after escaping from Miller, Phyllis approaches her husband who tells him that he is in time for dinner, where he tells him about her big interview, just as his wife fears about this. George tells his wife to put her faith about this while offering Ulysses to return to the house, being a very special squirrel just before recapping to her that he quit his job at Binders Keepers. After dinner, Phyllis resumes working on her typewriter.
The next day, Phyllis and her husband approach a journalist where she shows her the story that she is writing using her typewriter which is a poetry story about departure just as she worries that her interview is incomplete. Phyllis decides to resume her work while resuming her job. Later, Phyllis reads an article about herself feeling adrift, feeling sad about this. She later approaches Ulysses, thinking he is a nuisance, placing him in a box so she can continue writing her story. Phyllis attempts to send Ulysses back to where he lives treating him as a nuisance but instead offers her a piece of M&M to cheer her up just as she shows her the paper hidden in the box where he was placed. George later returns home and approaches his wife who is feeling sad that she is being divorced, while her husband tells her that he forgot to turn back like what Dr. Meescham just before hearing a storm outside, trying to make sure that Flora is safe.
Phyllis and her husband later approach Flora at the remains of the Splash Rapids water park who are holding Ulysses who is safe just as Flora happily reunites with him, as she recaps that she was going to take away Ulysses and then saw a paper written by Ulysses himself just as Phyllis reconciles with her daughter. However, after Miller finally captures Ulysses, the squirrel he was looking for and planning to euthanize him, this leads Flora, her family, and William to rescue Ulysses from the animal control.
Furthermore, Phyllis, her husband, Flora, and William walk across the animal control facility where they attempt to find Ulysses within this facility. Finally finding Ulysses, Miller halts the heroes just as Flora distracts the squirrels with M&Ms, causing the other squirrels to attack just before Phyllis, William, and Flora escape. Having escaped with Ulysses safely, Phyllis, her daughter, and William notice George being attacked by Miller as George almost falls off the building, only for Ulysses to rescue him, just as George reunites with his family safe and sound. Afterwards, the Buckmans and William decide to take Ulysses back to the wild, which they were able to as Flora bids a farewell to Ulysses who is happy that he is back home where he wanted to be.
Sometime later, Phyllis, her family, and William began working on a comic book about Ulysses based on their adventures at the Comic Cave store, inspired by the squirrel that helped them throughout their lives.
Trivia[]
- The figurines of Jack and Rose from Titanic that Phyllis adores can imply that Titanic is her favorite film, which in turn is a film about romance that fits her duty as a romance writer.
- At one point during the end of the film, Phyllis is seen signing her latest book in the Comic Cave store which is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book, a reference to the series of the same name where Phyllis' actress, Alyson Hannigan, participated in this series as Willow Rosenberg.
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