The Addams Family (2019)

The Addams Family (2019) – Tired of being chased out of every town by pitchfork wielding locals, the ghoulish Addams Family settle in a terrifying disused asylum in the hellish region of New Jersey. Secluded from everywhere, the Addams children grow up cut off. When Wednesday Addams discovers that there is colour and schools out there, she can’t help exploring. Is she ready for what is to come, and is the world outside ready for the Addams Family? 

The Addams Family (2019) – Director: Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60364586

Rating: PG

Running Length: 86 mins

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloe Gracë Moretz, Finn Wolfhard

Genre: Animated, Comedy

REVIEW: ‘THE ADDAMS FAMILY (2019)’

The Addams Family return in yet another format with 2019’s animated attempt to bring the spooky, kooky, and ooky family back into public minds for the Halloween season. It is difficult to follow the superb movies of the early 90s, and to director Vernon and Tiernan’s credit, they do try to bring something a little new to the bubbling cauldron of this beloved family. Sadly, the success is hit and miss.

Where The Addams Family goes right is in exploring the concept of teenage rebellion. It doesn’t matter if you are brought up in a gothic household or one borne of the mind of an interior designer, teenagers will likely rebel against whatever is their norm. When Wednesday (voiced by Grace Moretz) returns home in a pink frock to get a rise out of her mother (as her new friend Parker daubes herself in black for similar reasons) the message is heard loud and clear. Similarly, we get something unusual in this version of The Addams Family: a character for the often overlooked Pudsley. Fast approaching is his coming of age sword battle ceremony, the Mazurka, and he worries that he will not be able to live up the Addams name. It’s nice to see some depth to a character usually just used a punchline.

However for large chunks of the movie there is the sense that we are going through the motions. There is a Tim Burton-by-numbers feel to the saccharine nature of planned community, Assimilation. ‘Villain’ Margaux Needler is a reality TV host who sells beautiful homes. Her determination to rid the town of house price crashing presence of the Addams’ drives the plot but she herself could be anyone from the stock playbook of ‘arrogant social Alphas’. Indeed, whilst the sight and dialogue gags vary in quality, The Addams Family has a bad habit of citing other, better films. References to Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, Frankenstein, or IT weren’t necessary in past iterations when the characters themselves bore so much rich material.

All in all there are some good laughs to be had in the inventive ‘otherness’ on screen and The Addams Family is an enjoyable film. It tries to mix things up a little to its credit, but by having less of Gomez and Morticia (and also – sacrilegiously – having them bicker a little) and by copy pasting the ‘clash of cultures’ element from anything else you’d care to mention, the all together ooky aftertaste leaves you hankering to re-watch earlier, better, movies.

CONTENT: IS ‘THE ADDAMS FAMILY (2019)’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN

A woman applies make up. She dips her make up brush into an urn marked ‘Mum’ and then an urn marked ‘Dad’ for the powder. This may upset any children that have the ashes of dead relatives in the house.

Gomez and Morticia hit someone while driving. As they approach them they read the person’s straight jacket says that they are ‘criminally insane’. The person bursts free of their restraints and growls scarily at the camera, but this is quickly stopped.

On first visiting the old asylum building there is a chalk outline of where a body would have been. The legs part are on the floor but the body part is separate and on the wall, with some circle drops connecting the two. The house itself is haunted in some way as it booms “Get Out!” frequently through the film, although no-one is really scared by this.

‘Thing’ (a disembodied hand) is looking at close up pictures of bare feet with painted toes on a laptop. When interrupted it slams the laptop closed in apparent guilt.

Wednesday wears pyjamas that have teddy bears being hung by a noose as a decorative motif. Indeed, her hair is also braided into noose shapes.

Uncle Fester states he’ll live in the attic and that no one will know he was there. He adds ominously that he has practised this in many people’s homes.

Pugsley is buried alive off camera. He emerges from the dirt a few moments later, spluttering.

Pugsley is described as ‘climbing the walls’. The shot cuts to him scuttling up and down walls on all fours, making a horrible noise, and with glowing white eyes. The shot zooms in on him and is accompanied by scary music.

A camera crew enter the house. Once stands on a bearskin rug only for the bear head to growl and make him jump.

A stream of spiders emerge from Morticia’s dress and form a bridge that people have to walk across.

Fester is constantly hit by flying arrows. He feels no pain and, on one occasions, congratulates the shot.

When Wednesday visits the school there is the usual style ‘popular girl’ bully who stuffs a rotten sandwich and pours drink into the bag of a girl.

One class at school involves frog dissections. Each student is given a frog in a tray. Wednesday constructs a device to reanimate them akin to Frankenstein and the frogs all lurch up. She directs them to attack a student who gets covered in frogs.

Wednesday uses a spyglass to melt a variety of objects and cause a fire outside.

A casual séance is held. Dead relatives are talked too through a cloudy crystal ball.

Wednesday is around 13 years old but has a tattoo which is seen briefly.

A teenage girl says that she “knew she should’ve picked to live with Dad”.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘THE ADDAMS FAMILY (2019)’ FOR KIDS?

Whilst the 90s movies toed very close to that line of being a bit too much for family viewing, this 2019 version of The Addams Family is definitely made with kids in mind. There is plenty of macabre jokes, obviously, but the effect is watered down from the source material and many of the jokes are for younger minds. Due to a couple of scary scenes we would recommend this movie as suitable for children aged 5 and above with parental supervision and 7 plus without.

• Violence: 2/5 (constant throwing of sharp projectiles, the Addams’ children are constantly trying to hurt their family members although no-one ever is so or distressed by the efforts)
• Emotional Distress: 1/5 (a sad montage to the tune of ‘Everybody Hurts’ by REM may upset some children)
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (Pudsley’s wall scuttle, some zoom ins on Wednesday where the screen darkens, the haunted house)
• Sexual Content: 1/5 (Gomez looks at Morticia and says “French! You know what that does to me!”)
• Bad Language: 0/5
• Dialogue: 2/5 (frequent refences to death, murder & pain. Early on Gomez says to Morticia that he wants to stab her name onto his heart)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of not belonging, rebelling against family, living up to expectations, standing up to bullies, seeking your own experiences, allowing people to excel in their own skills, and accepting the differences of others.

Words by Michael Record