The Addams Family (2019 Review)
The Addams Family Captures the Spirit of the Original, but Not the Magic.
The Addams Family has become a cult classic among “spoopy” fanatics and a must-see movie for families every Halloween. The movie though is just over 20 years old and while it might still hold up, it’s a wonder Hollywood hasn’t remade it before now. Fortunately, fans of the spooky family won’t be too disappointed in this animated remake. It certainly isn’t great, but it manages to stay true to what made us all fall in love with the family in the first place and gives us plenty of funny moments to laugh at. Be warned though, this is more a movie meant to entertain kids than please fans of the original (who are, let’s face it, a bit older now). Because of that, The Addams Family can be painfully juvenile overall.
Hopefully, everyone knows the core concept of The Addams Family by now. The short and the sweet of it is that they’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, and altogether ooky. However, they’re also a shining light in what it means to have healthy interpersonal relationships. This time around the family is given the animated treatment and a new origin as newlyweds Morticia (Charlize Theron) and Gomez (Oscar Isaac) flee a torch and pitchfork-wielding crowd to start a new life away from all the hatred they’ve experienced over the years. Of course, a movie isn’t going to be much good without conflict and soon the family finds themselves being ostracized once again.
One of the aspects of The Addams Family I found myself enjoying a great deal was it’s aesthetic. Like the song says, the family is made up of eccentric and interesting characters and the art department really took that to heart when it came to designing them. It balks at traditional anatomical choices without being too garish and the result stretches the realm of possibility without making the family appear freakish. Every one of them has an aspect that is slightly off without being too blatant. The sort of thing where you might not even notice any oddities at a passing glance, but a second look reveals so much more. A perfect example is Wednesday’s noose pigtails. They’re a relatively small detail that speaks to just how strange and unique she really is. The downside is that the film seems to run out of creative steam once the main members of the family are done. Extend family and “normals” are uninspired and feel at odds, and not always in a good way.
There’s a lot of hit and miss when it comes to the new The Addams Family. While half the roles are brilliantly cast and bring new, unique interpretations to the characters, others falter, making them more annoying than anything else. Specifically, Theron, Issac, and Chloë Grace Moretz (Wednesday Addams) are wonderful in their parts. Theron and Issac are the perfect parental counterbalances with a wealth and love and affection that they dole out in their own special way. While I love Nick Kroll in the Netflix series Big Mouth his take on Uncle Fester is obnoxious at best and makes him one of the least enchanting members of the family. Half the time it’s hard to understand him with the over the top saliva filled lisp he uses that eventually starts to grate on your nerves every time his character appears. Similar could be said of Finn Wolfhard (Pugsley Addams), who is great to see in person, but who doesn’t have the presence yet to really pull off voice acting. By the end, I found myself enjoying some characters much more than others, and even dreading seeing a few.
This unevenness continues throughout The Addams Family. The humor is at it’s best when the jokes are subtle and simply done to remind audiences just how strange the family is. Such as when Wednesday finds a red balloon and Morticia comments that “usually there’s a murderous clown at the other end.” The film is filled with little moments like this, which is a relief because when it really puts effort into the jokes though it struggles like a comedian doing their first stand up. Sure, the idea is there but it has no idea how to get it across effectively. I’m sure little kids will be enthralled with some of the bigger sequences, but I found myself simply rolling my eyes at them.
The Addams Family’s biggest problem is that it hashes out the same old tired message we’ve heard in every kids movie. Be yourself. It’s okay to be different. Don’t judge a book by its cover. So on and so forth. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great messages but the film gets so heavy-handed with them it feels like it’s trying to teach a lesson more than anything else. The old film did the exact same thing, but was much more subtle with it, choosing to show rather than tell. While it might not be what I was hoping for, The Addams Family is a great move for families to enjoy together. However, If you don’t have the little ones to justify seeing it though, you might not enjoy it as much as you hope.
