The Addams Family Review

October 10, 2019 at 3:25pm
By Jason Stettner

The Addams Family returns with an animated film that modernizes the group. It retains the over the top spooky attitude, while adding a layering of heart to it. It’s incredibly alright, it was something I watched, laughed at, and will likely forget over time. It sounds like a negative statement, but it’s worth a watch as it was enjoyable enough and I’m sure the younger audience will be thrilled with it. When it comes to the narrative, the extended strange Addams family is chased by the regular folks of a town and the two newlyweds Gomez (Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) flee for somewhere new.

They end up in the United States and settle down in a horrific place for many years. Eventually they have children, including Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard) and the stand out Wednesday (Chloë Grace Moretz). There are of course other family members, but these are the key ones. I’ll also mention that It (Snoop Dogg) was a true baller in this one, that was fun to see. To get back on track, the story mainly follows this family as times change and a community develops in the valley below. This change-up causes Wednesday to explore, and this largely is her film.

The character stands out every moment she’s on screen and carries the narrative throughout. There are some great laughs with the dark humor and some parts hit me whereas others in the theater were quiet. That aside, there were laughs from the audience throughout for different things. Expect some obscure references, comments on modern society and a fun yet spooky family that still holds up as a core group.

One of the benefits of this take being animated, is that they can truly go wild with the presentation. There are some crazy situations that happen, and it helps with them leaning into the spooky side of this family. They all look strange, and this format pushes it forward.

It also added an extra chill when Wednesday would get intense, and that was wonderful. That aside, the animation is alright. It’s a bit basic in my opinion, they could have taken the details further. It works, but you can tell it’s not quite up to the quality of other competitors industry wise in terms of the animation detail depth.

The voice work was fine overall, many unique characters are present. I’ll once again mention that Wednesday was a gem here, with Chloë Grace Moretz’s voice work being a treat. She’s moody, dry and just funny throughout.

The Conclusion

The Addams Family is alright, it’s worth a viewing as it delivers some laughs and is a generally enjoyable film. I would say it’s definitely great for all audiences, and does certainly carry some light hearted moments throughout.

The narrative is fine, it doesn’t take the concept anywhere new while being serviceable to the history of this bizarre and loved series. Wednesday was the true star of this particular entry, this really was mostly about her and she provided the best moments throughout. Others characters were fine, but ya, Wednesday was a gem in this one. I felt the animation work could have carried more depth to it.

It looked fine, and was quality for the most part. It just seemed sort of basic at times, especially considering the atmosphere that could potentially be thoroughly used further in this situation. I certainly liked this film, I enjoyed it, yet still find it to just be ok. Again, worth a watch for sure and I know the younger audience will find this one to be a good viewing.

The Addams Family Review at Theater with Streamed Viewing
Screening Provided by NBC Universal

Rating Overall: 6.0