The new Addams Family movie is short, has extraordinary animation, stunning visuals, a starry voice cast, some vanilla gags and is eminently forgettable. On their wedding day, Gomez Addams and Morticia are driven out of their standard issue creepy Gothic hang out by some ludicrous villagers who seem to have strayed from the sets of Young Frankenstein or, more recently, Hotel Transylvania . So they relocate to New Jersey with the Thing, pick up a butler, Lurch (who looks very like Uncle Frank) and make an abandoned asylum their home.
- Directors: Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan
- Voice Cast: Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler, Allison Janney
- Storyline: The Addams cross swords with slimy reality TV host
- Run time: 87 minutes
Fast forward 13 years and the Addams have a daughter Wednesday and a son Pugsley. There is a family reunion in the offing for Pugsley’s Mazurka, a rite of passage. On the other side of town is slimy reality TV host Margaux Needler who has created the perfect town of Assimilation (a simulation—get it?) and feels the Addams’ pile of gloom masquerading as a house is bringing down property prices. She wants to get them out. Wednesday like a typical teen feels her family doesn’t get her just like Parker, Needler’s daughter. There is some junior school stuff happening and bullies to be dealt with. Pugsley has a long family tradition to live up to. All comes right in the end when everyone realizes that we are family…
Charles Addams created the Addams Family as single panel cartoons for The New Yorker in 1938. They were satirical versions of the American family and laid the template for many odd families on telly. This bland reboot does not do justice to the rich source material even though the voice work is impressive — Charlize Theron (Morticia), Chloë Grace Moretz (Wednesday), Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things (Pugsley), Bette Midler as Grandmama and Snoop Dogg (Cousin Itt). And now there is to be a sequel. Sigh, where is Anjelica Huston when we need her?
