An animated version of Charles Addams’ series of cartoons about a peculiar, ghoulish family.
Charlie Addams could never have imagined that his decision to expose the virtues of his family to the world several years ago, would ever amount to a continuously beloved cartoon and family series that would span the test of time. Fast-forward several episodes of non-conforming monster people, a boatload of anecdotal spookiness, and finally, the realization that scary people are human too, makes this a wonderful adventure that takes adults back to their childhood and after a few generational upgrades, brings current youth of all ages into the Addams family light.
The movie opens with Gomez (Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) being wed in holy matrimony and due to unforeseen circumstances, they shortly end up settling in New Jersey. Not sure where to go to plant their feet, they literally run into Ichabod in the middle of the road and in need of a bit of rest, they opt to check out the nearest place which just happens to be an abandoned insane asylum which they unanimously agree that it is weird and funky enough to become their home. Ichabod becomes their lifelong, piano-playing butler and before you can blink, thirteen years have passed and the Addams family has two offspring affectionately known as Wednesday (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard). As the plot develops, both Grandma (Bette Midler) and Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll) show up with exquisite weirdness and while the family thinks they are far removed from the real world, the local community starts to close in and wreak havoc on the family. Their greatest enemy shows up in the form of Margaux Needler (Allison Janney), the town’s local property queen who is trying to impress the community with her renovation skills and live television broadcasts. When she finds out that the Addams family is ruining her communal feng shui, she uses charm and then all-out evil to try and run them out of town. Wednesday’s curiosity about the outside world clashes head-on with Margaux’s daughter Parker’s (Elsie Fisher) curiosity about the strange family and before long, Wednesday gets a peek into the world outside of the family gates as she convinces Morticia and Gomez that she needs to go to school and mingle with others that aren’t like her. While the laws of attraction are ignited between Wednesday and Parker, the entire family, lead by Gomez, is preparing Pugsley for a rite of passage referred to as the Sabre Masuoka.
The bulk of the film puts the art of conforming on a large scale and intermingles diversity as the glue that makes the definition of normalcy sticky. “The Addams Family,” in its resurgence, provides a reality check for families that work through real issues while trying to keep themselves as a respected unit, and gives renewed life to the most memorable characters of a family that taught us to laugh at their craziness as well as our own. In addition to the main characters, Snoop Dogg keeps us in stitches as cousin IT and Jenifer Lewis is hilarious as Great Auntie Sloom. Directors Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan definitely have a hit on their hands with this 3-D computer-animated comedy of horrors that hilariously takes us back and keeps us moving forward at the same time.
In Theaters Friday, October 11th
