Random Movie Series Review - The Addams Family

In the year of 1938, an American magazine called The New Yorker started publishing a series of cartoon strips featuring a weird but wonderful family called the Addams Family. The idea and concept came from one Charles Addams. A cartoonist who wanted to create a satirical 20th century family who come from an odd aristocratic clan who delight in all things that others would find weird, frightening and in some instances, unnatural. Being oblivious to this has made them hated by the folks who live around them and loved by fans all over. Since their debut, they have appeared in numerous forms of media with some adaptations being better than others. I personally have seen them in cartoons, films and even one live action show. As it is Monday and during a time when there is injustice in the world on how to treat people who are different (and not just in the racial sense), I thought it is a good time to look at the films. I will be reviewing the films that Paramount (States only while Sony distributed worldwide) did in the 90s and the most recent one by MGM (States only while Universal distributed worldwide). I will not be looking at that one off Warner Bros. one because apparently it wasn't very good, but given that it was a direct to home media release, that's probably for the best. So let's get to it and snap those fingers:

The Addams Family (1991)

So interestingly, this film was in development hell for a while due to going over budget, health problems and fears from the filmmakers that it would be a big budget flop. But anyway, the film begins with Gomez Addams (played by the late but wonderful Raul Julia) lamenting on the 25 year absence of his brother Fester (played by the also wonderful Christopher Lloyd) who disappeared after the pair had a fallout. Some money is owned to this loan shark (played by Elizabeth Wilson) from Gomez's lawyer (played by Dan Hedaya) and her adopted son Gordon seems to bear a strong resemblance to Fester. Using this to their advantage, "Gordon" infiltrates the family mansion posing as Fester with the cover story being that he was lost in the Bermuda Triangle for the past 25 years. This is in an attempt to find the family vault and steal money so that the loan can be paid off which leads to the usual shenanigans that the family are known for. So another interesting fact about this film is that its one of those rare films where its actually considered inferior to its sequel. But that's not a bad thing per se and doesn't imply that this film is rubbish because it's not. Sure it does feel a bit disjointed at times, but you get some laughs out of it and its good fun. Plus having some good gags and one liners is always a win for me. 8/10

Values

So this one is considered the better of the two even though it didn't do as well as the first in the box office. So after the first film, Morticia Addams (played in both films by Anjelica Huston) is revealed to be pregnant and gave birth to her newborn son Pubert. Because of the actions of her other children Wednesday and Pugsley (played by Christina Ricci and Jimmy Workman respectively in both films), she hires a nanny called Debbie (played by the great Joan Cusack) to look after Pubert with the family being oblivious to her being a serial killer. She causes a series of events to occur in an attempt to destroy the family, but the usual shenanigans may get in her way. The main problem I have with this film is that it's too focused on Fester like the first one is and kind of side lines the other characters. You have a great cast here so why not have them play bigger parts in the film. But anyway other than that, it's a good film with probably a much better villain than the first film and more reasons to cause much carnage onto the world they live in. 8/10

The Addams Family (2019)

So now we come to the most recent film of the series and honestly, I don't see why there is so much hate for it. I mean the characters actually look or come close to looking like their debut appearances from all those years ago and unlike the previous two films, no character is side lined in favour of another. But anyway, so this film starts out as an origin story for the family as we see how Morticia and Gomez (this time voiced by Charlize Theron and Oscar Isaac respectively) got married, how so many people hate them, how they recruited Lurch (voiced by Conrad Vernon who also voices some other characters too), how they found the mansion they live in and most importantly how they created their iconic theme song which does appear in this film along with a remix version. As Pugsley (this time voiced by Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things) is preparing for his Mazurka, the rest of the family notice a neighbouring town that is getting a TV makeover and soon become curious of this town which leads to Wednesday (this time voiced by Chloe Grace-Mortez) infiltrating the school, Fester (this time voiced by Nick Kroll) finding love once again and the makeover leader (voiced by Allison Janney) finding ways to be rid of the family. I like that the film spends an even focus on the family rather than just one while side lining the others and I also like how close the designs of the characters resemble their original selves from 1938. This film doesn't deserve all the hate it gets from "die hard" fans because while sure its not a perfect film or the film we would expect it to be, it still is in every way what an Addams Family film should be. One that is full of laughs, light-hearted horror elements and being about a weird but wonderful family who are treated as outcasts from what are considered "normal" people. 8/10

So as you probably may have noticed, I'm not one of those "die hard" fans. Don't get me wrong, I do like the family and enjoy not all but most of the adaptations. But I'm a bigger fan of other things. Still, though regardless of whether people like the films or not, I know how to have a good laugh and that I can do with these films. Plus they also show that being different may be scary, but you should never seek out acceptance among others. You be yourself and who knows, maybe people will accept you for who you are. 8/10