Halloween season 2019 has arrived and what better film to celebrate the October season than a dark and animated Tim Burton style reboot of the Addams Family. Being the first theatrical Addams Family film since the 90's live-action films,
The Addams Family hopes to revive the franchise and reintroduce the characters and story with an animated film targeting young kids. The last time that audiences saw an Addams Family movie on the big screen was
The Addams Family Values in 1993, with the previous two live-action movies being the films to match in terms of quality. Due to the lackluster box office performance of
Values as well as the death of Raul Julia who played Gomez Addams, no third film was ever produced. Instead a lousy direct to video film titled
Addams Family Reunion was produced with Tim Curry playing Gomez Addams and Daryl Hannah as Morticia, with the film being released in 1998 to horrendous reviews. Since then the rights to the series has floated between studios with the film originally belonging to Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment with Tim Burton attached as director. The film later landed in the hands of Metro Goldwyn-Mayer, who announced they would produce an animated film based on the Addams Family comics. Now sixteen years after the release of
The Addams Family Values, the franchise lives on again in a fun and stylish animated reboot, that carries with it the spirit and charm of the live-action movies, while bringing the characters to a new generation of young audiences.
The plot for
The Addams Family focuses on the eccentric Addams family moving into their New Jersey home, and getting ready for the arrival of their eccentric cousins to commemorate Pugsleys transformation into becoming an official addams. While preparing for the ceremony, the addams are targeted by a scheming TV real estate tycoon, who tries to force them out of their town by rallying up the local gossipy neighbors. Learning of her plans to kick them out of their home, Gomez (Voiced by Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Voiced by Charlize Theron) rally their family and lead a counteraction, that comes with interesting results. The plot for
The Addams Family stays true to the storylines of the live-action films, which dealt with forcing
The Addams Family out of their home and swindling them out of their fortune. The cartoon stays true to the themes Barry Sonnenfield introduced with his films, and doesn't break out of the comfort zone of the series in terms of exploring different ideas and story concepts. The main difference with the cartoon version of
The Addams Family compared to the live-action movies, is the plot doesn't center around Uncle Fester being the central character this time. Instead the film gives a well-balanced interaction of the whole family with the characters of Wednesday and Pugsley getting special attention this time around, particularly the latter. The character of Pugsley always felt as if he was underused as well as undervalued in the live-action films, and here that issue is rectified as he becomes the central focus of the films story with him struggling to be the Addams his father always desired him to be. The relationship between Pugsley and Gomez is explored more in depth with the animated film, coming across as being rather touching in the end despite their families twisted yet hilarious anti-social outlook on society. The character of Uncle Fester goes from being the figure the films before placed heavy emphasis on, to now being a complete goofball in this story, making him the typical out of touch uncle in the family pack. Gomez and Morticia's passionate romance remains intact in the animated film much like the Barry Sonnenfield movies depicted them as. Despite the new film being animated, the 2019 reboot feels like a true
Addams Family reboot with a story that once again revolves around the strength of a kooky family, while providing audiences with a solid origin story reeking of nostalgia.
As far as the films voice acting performances go, the cast delivers fun and energetic performances, that often feel spot on and perfectly casted with each Addams character being played to near perfection. Oscar Isaac and Charlize Theron prove to be the perfect animated counterparts to Raul Julia and Angelica Houston's performances as Gomez and Morticia Addams. Isaac gives a whacky and genuine performance as Gomez Addams, that nails his personality down perfectly. Charlize Theron proves to be a great animated Morticia, one almost doesn't recognize her voice with how well she plays the part. Nick Kroll delivers a completely goofy performance as Uncle Fester, making the audience can't help but fall in love with his characters clumsy yet twisted side with the characters lisp being a hilarious added touch. As good as those performances are, the true standout voice acting performances go to Chloe Grace Moretz as Wednesday Addams, proving that she's a worthy successor to Christina Ricci's performance as Wednesday in the Barry Sonnenfield films (She nails the whole approach to playing the character in a deadpan fashion with absolutely zero emotion), and Finn Wolfhard, who brings a lot of personality to Pugsley and helps make his character the heart of the films story. Snoop Dogg as cousin It is both hilarious casting, though feels pointless considering It doesn't speak besides making mumbling noises. Betty Milder shines as the Addams grandmother with notable supporting roles from Catherine O'Hara and Martin Short. Allison Janney does a solid job playing Margaux, the films main antagonist who feels like a combination of the characters of Tully and Uncle Fester's evil adoptive mother from the 1991 live-action film. Elsie Fisher turns in a nice performance as Parker with audiences getting a kick out of her characters unusual yet effective friendship with Wednesday. Her character also helps to drive home the message of the film with kids, which basically says that it's ok to embrace someone else whose different than you socially. Overall, the films cast feels perfect with the main performers of each addams character feeling as if they properly captured the essence of them, with the side characters adding to the fun and mayhem.
In terms of the films directing and screenwriting, directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon prove to be worthy replacements with filling in for Tim Burton's absence, and do a surprisingly good job of bringing the world of the addams family to life. Despite Burton not directing it, the film has the look and visual style of one of his movies, with the theme of the family being outcasts from society or eccentrics being Burton's bread and butter in terms of selecting scripts that appeal to him. The films animation is beautiful with the film having a strong visual appeal with its gothic approach, giving it a true Halloween feel. Watching the animated film, it feels as if the filmmakers were not only honoring the classic 1960's show, but literally every past version of the story from the cartoon to the live-action films, while carrying on the franchise to today's generation of kids. What could've easily been a money grabbing attempt to milk the characters and name, ends up feeling like a great deal of passion and dedication went into bringing these characters back to the big screen. In terms of the films pacing, the story is at its strongest during the first half with setting up the main plot and introducing audiences to the addams all over again, as well as the side characters. What makes the Addams family so appealing, is despite how twisted and out of touch the family comes across as being, as the audience can't help but love them and care about their well being.
The films scriptwriting by Matt Lieberman and Pamela Pettler along with storylines by Conrad Vernon, and Erica Rivinoja feels fairly well-written and remains grounded within the addams universe. The film contains humor that's aimed at both kids and adults with most cases being the humor works rather than misfires. The subplots on the side such as Wednesday getting a temporary makeover and wanting to go to a normal school after befriending Margaux's daughter Parker as well as Pugsley struggling to make his dad happy by trying to perform a right of passage for a ceremony thrown in his honor, are effective in breathing life into the films story while making audiences connect the characters. The moments that remind viewers of the nostalgia of the addams family, are those shown in which both Wednesday and Pugsley try to kill each other. The film suffers from a rather rushed second half in which all the main subplots introduced in the story feel a tad rushed in terms of getting wrapped up, particularly Pugsleys subplot. The message of the film makes the whole scenario not just extremely fun to watch, but poignant with the film encouraging its audience, particularly young people to be what they want to be without society forcing them to live as something they're not as evidenced by the character of Pugsley. The film also encourages the breaking of family tradition in the sense that parents shouldn't force children to do things done before in the past and to just be themselves. Given that the films running time clocks in at 86 minutes, it feels as if the screenplay was written in a way which the film never dares to overstay its welcome, and achieves what it's meant to do which is giving the addams family a fun reimagining on the big screen aimed at young kids, who might not be familiar with the addams characters prior. If that was the case of the filmmakers and the writers then they succeeded under reasonable terms.
In the end, the team behind the animated
Addams Family go to great and extreme lengths to modernize the story, while reintroducing the characters to a new generation of audiences. With solid animation, a hit soundtrack, and a star-studded voice cast, who literally elevated the films screenplay into something workable,
The Addams Family is the animated treat, that both young audiences and older fans of the Addams can come together and enjoy during Halloween season. The films main criticism is despite the script doing a serviceable job of tying all the previous legacies of the
Addams Family together, its story feels all too familiar and doesn't take enough risks in terms of going deeper with both the characters and the plot. The only true moment where the film feels like its being creative in terms of doing something new, is showing the extended relatives of the Addams family. Besides that, the film largely plays it safe with the characters and humor feeling held back given that it's now an animated film aimed at kids. What made the original movies so much fun and surprising, was the amount of freedom they had in telling their story and the unpredictability of what the addams characters would do. Here, those who've see those films and watch this one get a sense of nostalgic deja Vu while young audiences will find the addams appealing, which is the films main target audience.
The Addams Family is entertaining for what it is and will please young audiences as well as fans of the original, though older fans will definitely agree the film didn't take as many risks as it should've cause of it being grounded as a children's movie. The humor for the most part hits more than misses with some moments coming across as being fart jokes. The story remains simplistic and straight-forward with it working both as a standalone movie from the others, along with the appeal of the characters being enough to make up for the films shortcomings and provide a fun-filled experience for the family. With the newly announced animated sequel in the works, one hopes the filmmakers are more willing to switch things up next time around and come up with a more creative story. For now, audiences should take delight in seeing the iconic characters brought back to life on the big screen, as well as the films strong message aimed at kids which says they should embrace others who are different.
Final Verdict: If you're a fan of the
Addams Family, the new animated reboot is worth seeing.
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