My History With the Film:
I was a child when the first Addams Family movie came out and I loved it. Its one of those films I watch around Halloween time and I feel like it gets better with age. When I saw the trailer for this Addams Family movie I thought it looked great and I really wanted to see it. I didn’t make it to the theater before it was gone, but I rented it shortly after it was released on DVD.
It’s animated and obviously not meant for adults, but I hoped it would do the characters I love justice and I feel like it did. It also had a fair share of adult humor hidden though out the film.
What The Film Is About (Non-Spoiler):
The Addams Family moves to New Jersey where they live in peace, until a reality makeover show decided to fix up a whole town and The Addams Family house looks out of place.
What I Liked About It:
-The use of pop culture songs via Lurch’s piano playing was fantastic and an excellent way to incorporate them into the movie.
-I liked the animation style and the minimalistic backgrounds. It didn’t give your eye too much to look at and you were able to focus on the characters and the brilliantly designed backgrounds.
-Allison Janney was fantastic as our antagonist, Margaux Needler. She portrayed the fake reality TV star with authenticity.
-I loved the underlying message that you should be who you are and be happy. Just because everyone else is all the same doesn’t mean you have to be the same. I especially loved the digs towards all the common home improvement reality shows and the trends that they recycle.
-The Addams Family voice cast was good and all served there counterparts well with no one performance really standing out. Although, I’d love to see Oscar Issac in a live action movie as Gomez Addams.
What I Didn’t Like About It:
-After Christina Ricci, it’s hard to see anyone taking over Wednesday. Her wit and dry humor was so spot on in the movies from the 90’s, and as much as I think Chloë Grace Moretz did a good job, her performance just didn’t live up to Ricci’s. I would have prefer it to be a bit darker and maybe a bit funnier.
-The movie had two major storylines going on (Pugsley’s Mazurka and the gentrification of Assimilation) and I think it suffered trying to accomplish both. Pugsley wasn’t all that interesting and too much time was given to that storyline vs. the Assimilation story which was more exciting and fulfilling.
-Not enough Cousin IT.
Additional Notes:
-The character designs were inspired by Charles Addam’s original comic strip.
-When Wednesday dances she does The Droop from the 1966 episode Lurch’s Grand Romance.
Rating:
The Addams Family is a delightful movie with some of my favorite characters. It’s far from perfect, but the movie offers humor for both children and adults and I think the whole family would enjoy it. As I sat watching it, I thought if I had kids, I could totally see myself watching this and enjoying this with them (vs. a Disney film per say).
I rate The Addams Family as a three out of five and say its a low priority rental unless you have kids.