One of the best things about the new MGM The Addams Family animated film is that it brings the family full circle. The Addams Family began as a comic strip by cartoonist Charles Addams in the New Yorker Magazine, and was then turned into the mega-popular TV show in 1964. The property briefly became an animated TV series in 1973, and then hit the big time with two feature films in the early ’90s.
The last major incarnation of Charles Addams’ creation was a popular Tony-nominated Broadway musical. But now, the family is back — and back to their roots with the new animated The Addams Family. While not hand drawn, the animation is closer to the comic strips than it is to Broadway musicals, and it just feels right seeing the macabre family in this form.
The Addams Family is the story of Gomez Addams (voiced by Oscar Issacs) and his wife, Morticia (Charlize Theron), their two children, Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz) and Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard), family butler Lurch (Conrad Vernon, who also co-directs), and Gomez’s kooky brother, Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll).
The animated film opens with the wedding of Gomez and Morticia, and quickly moves the story to modern day New Jersey, where the family resides in an abandoned asylum that sits on a mountain above a quaint little town called Assimilation.
The town is a planned community created by popular TV home renovator Margeux Needler (Allison Janney), who has a few secrets of her own, and the existence of a spooky family on the hill overlooking the town is detrimental to her plans and threatens her “perfect” community.
In addition to this plot line, the children’s stories also take center stage. Pugsley is on the verge of becoming an “Addams man,” and the entire extended family is coming to the house for his wacky confirmation; and Wednesday is intrigued by the world outside the gates of the estate and wants to sample a normal life with the help of a friend, Parker Needler (Elsie Fisher), Margeux’s daughter.
Like the classic TV show, laughs are mined from the clash of cultures between the Addams and the townsfolk. The script by Matt Lieberman and Pamela Pettler pays homage to all that came before, drawing inspiration from the comic strips, the TV series, the Barry Sonnenfeld films, and more. The humor comes in the form of puns and sight gags, all centered on the “horror” elements of the family.
Some of these are inspired, like Wednesday’s pigtails ending in nooses, and Uncle Fester’s reactions to being inflicted with pain, and others come from no where, like Lurch’s singing voice, which drew the biggest laughs from the audience.
Co-directors Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan are able to capture the look and spirit of The Addams Family, as the animation and art direction is a throwback to Charles Addams’ original strips. In a way, it bridges three generations here, as the grandparents who grew up with the strip and the TV show will recognize the style, and yet the parents who might only know the Sonnenfeld films and/or Broadway musical will also be familiar. And now this is an Addams Family for a new generation, that encompasses all that came before without sacrificing all that makes this family so beloved.
The Addams Family is an enjoyable film that has some big laughs and a good sense of nostalgia. I would love to see this become a vehicle for a new version in this style, either a series a animated films or even a weekly TV show, as it was nice to spend time with this family again.
And now that dark, horror-like elements are much more commonplace in society — as opposed to the 1950s and ’60s — maybe the world needs the Addams in their lives, even if they don’t know it yet. This is the perfect family film for the Halloween season, with good laughs and interesting visuals. And besides, we all know the theme song; you are probably humming it right now as you read this *Snap Snap*.
The Addams Family is rated PG and is in theaters now.
