The Addams Family Review

 
Get ready to snap your fingers! The first family of Halloween, the Addams Family, is back on the big screen in the first animated comedy about the kookiest family on the block. Funny, outlandish, and completely iconic, the Addams Family redefines what it means to be a good neighbor.
PG: For macabre and suggestive humor, and some action Production Companies: Nitrogen Studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bron Creative, Cinesite, The Jackal GroupDistributor: United Artists ReleasingRuntime: 1 Hour and 27 MinutesDirectors: Conrad Vernon, Greg TiernanWriters: Matt LiebermanCast: Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler, Allison JanneyRelease Date: October 11, 2019
You know the name, you’re addicted to the ‘90s live-action movies, and every year you might dress up as one of them (probably Wednesday) for Halloween. The Addams family, one of the most iconic families in pop culture long before the Incredibles, the Simpsons, and the Flintstones were ever conceived, is back in one of their first forms: animated. Honestly, I didn’t even know that this property started out as a series of comics for The New Yorker back in the ‘50s until I saw the designs of this animated feature that are taken from those same illustrations. So, right off the bat, there was effort put into the project, which in retrospect should've dissolved some of my negative expectations towards this movie. It's helmed by the team (and animation studio) behind the successful 2016 comedy Sausage Party and by God do they make me laugh. I'm not going to beat around the bush with this. Reader, I laughed. I liked it. What a year in animation it’s been where some of my least anticipated movies of the year ended up being surprisingly enjoyable. 
On the night of their wedding, Gomez and Morticia Addams are chased out of their home by angry villagers—or Americans so to speak—due to their creepy kookiness. The newlyweds seek out the most disgusting place in the country to find a home, so they head to New Jersey (which is hilarious if you're a North Easterner like myself or have ever been to New Jersey) and find refuge in an abandoned asylum mansion where they begin their family. Thirteen years later, the Addams Family lead a quiet and reserved life, but Wednesday and Pugsley yearn for more. Wednesday wants to see the world outside her family gates and Pugsley would rather be seen as a demolitions expert as he prepares for his family’s traditional sword fighting coronation. All the while, trouble brews below their hilltop as Margaux Needler, a female Ty Pennington/HGTV-like interior designer/TV host, gentrifies an entire Jersey town into this colorful modernized Williamsburg-like suburbia called “Assimilation”. The Addams family, being the strange, non-conforming people that they are, conflict with her perfectionist perspective, disrupting the sanctity of the town. One of my biggest fears going into this movie was the newly realized depiction of the Addams Family. The promos and trailers weren’t helpful or convincing as everything I've seen made this appear like a Hotel Transylvania rip-off. It all emphasized our current slang and modern references, but thankfully the film itself doesn't do that excessively. As far as the family goes, the film captures the offbeat, macabre nature of the Charles Addams’ characters and mileage a great amount of off-color humor out of them. Each character retains the distinguishable nature we know and love, taking influences from all iterations for this reimagining. Gomez and Morticia’s iconic love is still strong as hell. Wednesday’s notable sadistic and sarcastic personality is present. The only characters that receive an update of sorts are Cousin Itt, who is just smaller in stature, and Pugsly. whose genius and creative inventiveness is replaced with a desire for demolition and explosions, which still works for the dynamic of the family. Hell, the sibling rivalry between Wednesday and Pugsly remains as she takes glee in tormenting him. The family has their dignity intact and the film works best while watching them together as a unit or while one of them individually torments others. Upon watching this, I started to dig into the Addams history which made me appreciate this feature more, specifically the voice cast of the family. At first, I thought they were just going for recognizable voice talents that are big names right now, but there was actual thought put into the casting and the voice work also compliments the nature of the family. The internet lost its mind when the teaser revealed that Oscar Issac was voicing Gomez, for he actually looks like Gomez. As far as voice goes, he sounds so much like John Astin who portrayed Gomez in the original 1964 live-action series and ‘90s animated series , emphasizing more on his accent while delivering the same enthusiasm and energy. Charlize Theron as Morticia keeps the distinctive monotoned, yet soulful, voice of the character. Friggin’ Nick Kroll, who voices Uncle Fester, may sound exactly like Coach Steve from his series Big Mouth, but his raspy voice also compliments the nature of Jackie Coogan’s portrayal in the live-action series. 
The voice performer who actually steals the show is Chloe Grace Moretz as Wednesday Addams. As the film progresses, it centers more on her and her subplot regarding enrolling in middle school and making friends with others her age, such as the neglected daughter of the villainous Margaux (voiced by Eighth Grade’s Elsie Fisher) who becomes influenced by Wednesday’s gothic nature. They give Wednesday the most gags, expressions, and one-liners and Moretz’s deadpan, yet eccentric, delivery always lands.The only one who kinda feels miscast is Pugsley (voiced by Finn Wolfhard) who just sounds like… Finn Wolfhard. It’s not like Pugsley was ever a standout character by any means, for he is often overshadowed by his entertaining family.Given that this is from the team behind Sausage Party—a film that got by on its clever humor rather than its cheaply produced animation—directors Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan delivered that same triumphant specialty with this film. As cheap as the animation looks, the inventive and clever humor throughout that garner laugh-out-loud moments compensates for it. Seriously, just read the setup. The Addams’ move to New Jersey and find themselves clashing with a gentrified town called “Assimilation”. How is that not funny? And in this case, you can tell that the animators over at Cinesite (previously Nitrogen Studios) got paid this time around (just look at the messed up production history on Sausage Party for context) because the animators took advantage of the family’s detailed colors, the changes to the initial design, and their expressions. Part of the reason why Wednesday is a standout is due to the drastic changes to her design where her skin tone is more pale in comparison to her other iterations while taking her oval-shaped eyes from the 1992 cartoon and giving her the large dotted pupils of Charles Addams’ illustrations. The animators mileage the most expressions out of her due to her sinister nature, such as the dilation of pupils whenever she gets a devious idea of torment. The movement is more quick and zippy, more cartoonish than the other fare available, but it works perfectly for entertaining kids. 
While I got thorough enjoyment from watching the family engage in their antics, wreaking chaos and a barrage of clever macabre jokes and gags, including several distinctive horror references for fans of the spooks, the story is rather disjointed and convoluted. For an 86-minute movie, it lacks focus and treads on way too many familiar plotlines taken from stronger features. As far as theatrical adaptations of popular comic properties or late 20th Century cartoons go, it doesn’t have the detailed animation or clever social commentary on suburbia, such as Over the Hedge (in which director Conrad Vernon worked on as a story artist) which has a familiar backdrop to this. It’s a shame because that’s a movie from 2006. It also lacks the strong storytelling of something like Mr. Peabody and Sherman, another animated flick based on a popular ‘60s animated series that has a familiar message and an even bolder narrative, which oddly enough also featured Allison Janney in the antagonist role. Seriously, does she have a type when it comes to roles like these? This kind of proves that she has a type. Both of the aforementioned films have a straightforward story and central focus. The Addams Family is all over the place, playing familiar episodic sitcom-level subplots that never really connect fluently.
While I am complementing the designs of the Addams, all the designs of the supporting characters are even more unpleasant to look at than theirs. They don’t look as completely rendered as the family. Their styles may be more harmonious, which is the intention, but it’s waaaay too simple and weird. Like, I get that they don’t have the same budget as high-profile studios, but the designs of the conformed normal characters are just… ehhhhh, generic, on par with a cheaply-produced CG series that airs on Nick.What really does elevate this film is the silly off-putting nature of the family and the updated humor that retains their timeless, classic charm. As 2019 as it could get, this proves that you can bring an established property into the 21st Century and not have them pander to kids. That said, there are a few cringeworthy moments that do pander, such as an Addams relative (not any of the mains) saying, “This party is going to be lit” as his head is on fire, or severed heads singing Pete Rodriguez's “I Like It Like That” which was made popular today thanks to Cardi B. Or Cousin Itt’s intro where he gets out of the car like a pimp and Snoop Dogg’s “Drop it Like it’s Hot” blares in the background. But it’s only those three jokes that occur during the latter half of the movie and those dud running gags that go on a bit too long, such as prolonged sequences of Lurch playing various familiar tunes on the piano for comedic effect. 
Whoever is in charge of marketing animated films, you guys need to stop making movies that are rather decent, or even mediocre, look worse than they are. Just stop letting your team of 30-year-old adults use modern lingo to sell a movie. This reminded me of how poorly Sherlock Gnomes was marketed. While that was just a mediocre movie in its own right, it didn’t feature any of the cringey material shown in its trailer, and neither does The Addams Family. What I’m saying is, market your movies better with people who know how to advertise familiar properties without having to pander. Remember, kids: pandering doesn’t get you anywhere. Just look at the box office numbers for Sherlock Gnomes.
Though its storytelling is bland and generic, The Addams Family serves as an entertaining update and re-introduction of the iconic family thanks to the well-written depiction of the characters, the voice work from its central cast, and a variety of clever macabre humor throughout.Rating: 3/5 | 63%