The Addams Family 2

Oh, we're here baby!!

This actually put me in a good mood for the season. Unfortunately no gloomy weather this time around, but I enjoyed the film. Again, not really that great a sequel but I knew for the most part what I was getting into so I could roll with it. Wednesday is full of woe leading the family to take a trip to bond closer together, which is almost derailed before they even get started due to the fact that speculation arises that Wednesday is not really an Addams but was swapped after birth. Couple of things about that. I very strongly voiced my approval and praise of Wednesday in the first film, so the fact we get a much more prominent focus on her is great. However. This plot point is beyond absurd and I do not like it. I could very easily be a complete ass and just say, well this movie only gives you nuggets of promise but swiftly delivers on nothing and amounts to the biggest piece of fluff in cinemas this year. But I did still have a bit of fun with it here and there. I took slight issue with how the Addams family was potrayed in the first film, but I liked it better here. Gomez wants to be a better father, Pugsley starts taking an interest in girls, Morticia is more calm headed and demure, we get more Cousin Itt which is always awesome and I am there for it, the movie even briefly turns into a journey with Lurch and Wednesday which I adored. Still could have lived without Lurch singing. You did it to me once shame on you, you did it to me twice and you're walking on thin ice. The animation I thought was very much improved though every other character besides the fam is still nightmare fuel beyond the capacity for human words. Just why? Their eyes....they're lifeless eyes, blank eyes, like a doll's eyes. When they're moving they don't seem to be living, until they talk and those blank eyes grow ever bigger. Oh then you hear that terrible high pitch screaming, the mind recoils in horror, in spite of all the eyes wide shut and hands covering them, they rip your psyche to pieces. Yet even in spite of that, the comedy though not as potent takes a lot of cues from the sight gags of Looney Tunes and are handled really well. It made me laugh quite a few times just from the visual situations, which I must commend. It's a mixed bag of things, and while I heavily applaud the very obvious murder, I can't entirely say it is well worth seeing in theaters. This seems like just the right kind of movie for Cartoon Network to show during October, it gives me slight Scary Godmother flashbacks. To just lay in bed in your room, hunker down for a few hours, watch some light spooky entertainment, and wrap up the evening however you please before the weekend starts. I'd give it about 2.5 stars though it had the capacity for 3 stars, 6.5/10, decent stuff and only the prologue for the most wonderful time of the year.

BONUS In Retrospect: The Addams Family (2019)

I'm very happy to see this movie again.

I will fully admit if you did match the 90s films to this, it does genuinely work better in the live action films, but to be honest those films are so loved and adored it's kind of an impossible task to surpass them. But I'm just happy this film didn't and went for their own style and story while keeping all the standard Addams tropes we adore. Is it perfect? No. But to be perfectly honest, I never have expectations for any film. I simply can't afford it if I'm going to be an unbiased reviewer, so I always take a movie for what it is and go from there. For instance, the satirizing view on modern culture doesn't delve too deeply and is handled just okay. I do kinda wish we got a bit deeper into that, but do you really watch an Addams Family movie for satire? Of course not, you watch it to see these wonderful characters, and the cast does do them justice with Oscar Isaac and Chloe Grace Moretz being the standout performances. I did take slight issue with Morticia being a bit more apprehensive to new things and people in the neighborhood, because to be honest the whole appeal of this family is their unilateral acceptance of others, they never look down or judge people in any way, they just like them regardless of who they are despite them not agreeing on everything. It's a wonderful trait to posses in human beings, but then again I can understand why Morticia feels that way, her family has constantly been chased around by hateful people with torches so I fully understand why she would be cautious and a bit untrusting of people, though Gomez is still the exact same character we love fully ready and able to meet new people and be very neighborly. I love especially the fact we actually get to see Wednesday go to school, we hear of it in the 60s show but never really saw it and it is everything I wanted it to be, and while I greatly enjoy the cute little girl of the 60s show I'm happy they brought back the mannerisms and characterization of the 90s movies. This is my favorite kind of Wednesday. One strange thing I noticed is while the main characters utilize the original Charles Addams designs, the rest of the characters in the town kind of radically shift. Margeaux looks like a Mike Judd Beavis And Butthead character with her beady eyes, ridiculously huge hair, and slender figure, while other characters like her daughter look like they come from any 3D animated film, some look like humans from The Lorax, some look like Despicable Me, it's kind of a mish-mash of animation styles. Is it bad though? No, but it is something I noticed. The film is good, nothing spectacular but certainly nothing bad either. I still give it a solid 3.5 stars, 7.5/10, This is a fun movie for any fan of this series, and will probably be on a watchlist for many people during October. We still need more Lurch though, I appreciate the wonderful music interludes we have but I could have lived without the song. But a few missteps is hardly worth a bad score and I still genuinely love this movie.

Next time, we finally watch it, so stay tuned for that review.

The Addams Family (2019)

It couldn't be a better day.

Bleak skies, cold rushing winds, a wonderfully creepy film, it's perfect. I loved this movie, they did dang near everything right with only one or two major grumbles, they treated the film with love and appreciation and for that it has my love and likewise approval. This is more of a love letter to the 60s series with dashes of the 90s movies and it balances very well. We follow our favorite macabre family once more as Gomez and Morticia find a perfectly haunted house and begin to raise their family, as they soon decide due to Wednesday's intrigue to venture down to the quaint and colorful town below to introduce themselves. But shock of all shocks they're not well liked and soon through a fear mongering retailer decide to oust the family from their town leading to a genuinely nice resolution. The first thing I have to say is, there is a bit of Hotel Transylvania in this, a group of people are chased into hiding in a large luxurious house before a young girl is interested in the outside world and forces both worlds to collide, and this really isn't a bad thing. Because it's a decent story and because they actually do something entirely of their own with it, it's not a ripoff of Hotel Transylvania but you do see some elements there. The animation style is excellent with the original designs by Charles Addams used for the characters and they all look great, with gorgeously gruesome backgrounds and great color choice. The cast was great I mean you have Oscar Isaac as Gomez which is already spot on, but Charlize Theron is wonderful as Morticia, Chloe Grace Moretz kinda stole the show as Wednesday which is funny because Wednesday in the show was just a cute girl and was nowhere near as morbidly hilarious as she's been in the past 25 years, Finn Wolfhard is really good as Pugsley, and even Nick Kroll was cast surprisingly effective as Uncle Fester, so cast is great without a doubt. I had a blast with the comedy also but I've always had an odd and dark sense of humor so of course I loved it and it made me laugh quite a lot and even when I wasn't laughing I had the biggest smile on my face and and a gross warm feeling in my chest cavity. Not many films can do that. The satire was also updated from the 90s movies going from a critique of shallow suburban life to shallow modern life with the town literally called Assimilation, where everyone is exactly the same, everyone is using their phones to know what the other neighbors are doing, and security cameras are everywhere. It's not trying to make a big statement but just poke fun at the tropes of today, and while some people would say it dates the film I don't think so. Originally Illumination was going to make an Addams Family movie but it got cancelled and I'm honestly thankful for that, I don't completely despise Illumination's movies but I'm just very happy it turned out the way it did. Now it does have some pop culture references but it's not horrendous, it's just cute gags and is not trying to be totally hip with the fellow kids, even with Snoop Dogg voicing Cousin Itt it still sounds like Cousin Itt (also known as the funniest thing in the world and I have no idea why)! They treated it with respect and not just some cash grab with a recognizable license, they wanted to make a fun and entertaining movie and that's exactly what they accomplished! It's great to see whether with friends, yourself, or just your family, it's just a nice well made animated movie. Maybe not a great movie, but I don't think it's trying to be a great movie and trust me when I say there has never been anything wrong with that. I give the movie 3.5 stars check it out! A lovely movie for the spooky season that might make you appreciate it even more.

Next week some cult favorites from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

The Addams Family

I love this movie.

I've always been a fan of The Addams Family since I was dreadfully young, and this movie has always been a favorite. I'm absolutely thrilled to finally be able to see an Addams Family movie in theaters so it was high time to talk about the still loved duology from the 90s. So our story begins with Uncle Fester returning after 25 years since he disappeared, but all is not as it seems since Uncle Fester has suffered amnesia and is part of a team ready to rob the Addams blind, so we spend time with the family and see the connection begin to grow between Fester and the family before the final resolution. Yeah, this isn't a film for it's plot but more just to be a very fun movie for everyone and it succeeds greatly. This is the better of the two movies but more on the second next time, but for now let us delve deeper. This is such a funny and entertaining movie, I dare even say that the reason it's took about 25+ years for a new Addams Family movie is because the casting could not have been more perfect. I mean really ask yourself, who could have played these parts better during that time and place in the world? No one. Raul Julia is the stuff of legend, Anjelica Huston does give Carolyn Jones a run for her money, Christopher Lloyd is great and because the story focuses on Uncle Fester you get a lot of screen time with him, and well let's be honest Christina Ricci was created to be Wednesday, and the rest of the cast is just as great. The comedy is really good, it can easily make me either smile or bust out laughing, but when you have a good script and expertly delivered lines by great actors it's hard not to laugh! There's just a lot to love in this movie from the design, to the comedy, the timeless characters, even the effects. I was surprised by the effects to be honest, I mean I don't know how they pulled half of it off from Thing to even just simple throwaway gags like the books, it's quite amazing. I could praise the movie all day, but this movie grabbed my love from the very get go where our macabre family greet Christmas carolers by pouring hot oil on them. It speaks to my very soul. Though easily the best scene in the entire movie is the Mamushka, such great music and energy! This movie really does showcase Raul Julia the more I think about it, he can dance, sing, swordfight, his charisma leaps off the screen and is a bittersweet joy to experience. Raul Julia always said this was his favorite role to play because he enjoyed entertaining children and it always brought a smile to his face to see people recognize him as Gomez, and if there ever was just one single reason to watch this movie it is because of him. I definitely recommend this movie to all ages and all families, this is a funny and well done movie, easily a solid 4 stars check it out!

And we'll be back next time to look at the sequel.