We are all
different, and yet we are all the same. Such is a concept perpetrated by many
instances of children’s and family media, and no one quite illustrates this
idea better than the characters of a strange, effervescently macabre family
named for its creator, Charles Addams. A subversion of typical tropes
associated with suburban family life, The
Addams Family started out as a series of New Yorker cartoons in the 1930s and has since spawned a wildly
popular franchise extending from both live-action and animated television
shows, films, and even stage adaptations. Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan’s
newest version of the Addams clan is not so much a reboot as it is a
continuation on a theme, bringing the bizarre and lovable misfits right into
2019 within the CGI funhouse of a film.
Fake Latin
though it is, the Addams family motto first coined in the 1991 Barry Sonnenfeld
movie, “Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos
nunc” carries over hilariously in this new adaptation, wherein Pugsley is
an explosives expert, Wednesday longs to join the social-media snapshots of her
new friend Parker, and the family mansion is an ancient, abandoned mental
asylum. The film modernizes the Addams
Family franchise in a way that doesn’t pander, and isn’t so obnoxiously
hollow that it loses the original spirit of the characters and their infamous
passion for life, difficult and dark as it may often be. Reminiscent of Edward
Gorey, the art style plays with the recognizable caricatures we all know and
love, and it’s honestly just a lot of fun to watch. There are enough smart
little flicks of the wrist of wry humor to make it enjoyable for older viewers,
although there is plenty of slapstick and silliness to entertain the littler
ones. The Addams Family isn’t really
about teaching lessons, although the messages of inclusivity and individuality
that permeates their presence in media is certainly there; it is, instead, an
examination of how a household like theirs would adapt its old-world charms to
join the modern cultural universe.
If any of
the characters truly learn a lesson, it is Morticia (Charlize Theron) – fearful
of the world outside the mansion gates and nervous about sending Wednesday (Chloe
Grace Moretz) to public junior high, she must deal with the pastel unicorn
barrettes and happy red balloons of her daughter’s strange rebellion, even as
she tries to open her heart to a town she worries will reject her whole family.
Boisterous and friendly,, Gomez (Oscar Isaac) embraces the town but hopes to
turn it into an Addams paradise as he prepares to host a huge family reunion
centered around Pugsley’s (Finn Wolfhard) coming-of-age ceremony – a feat of
swordsmanship and dance for which he is woefully unprepared.
Reality
“house makeover” star Margaux Needler (Allison Janney), horrified at the gloomy
monstrosity of the Addams homestead right in the middle of the town she has
fully assimilated as a bright and cheerful haven of homogeny in order to sell
houses and thumb her control over people in a cookie-cutter version of American
life, is nothing new when it comes to opposition to the Addamses and their way
of life. She seems to have no motives aside from her television show’s success
and her own petty closed-mindedness and desire to control every aspect of her
community. She isn’t a threat we can take too seriously; anyone familiar with
the Addams family has seen them triumph over far worse. But the film doesn’t
seem to take her terribly seriously either, so it avoids an unnecessarily
heavy-handed resolution and retains a relatively light-hearted outlook
throughout.
The Addams Family is, at its heart, just a celebration
of the franchise itself. It’s an entertaining, enjoyable version of the Addams
tropes, with fantastic voiceover work (director Conrad Vernon is especially a
‘scream’ bellowing “YOU RAAAAAAAAAAAAANG?” as the Addams’ butler, Lurch) and
cleverly animated scenes and character designs to match the aesthetic of the
franchise. It doesn’t say anything new or particularly enlightening, but it
delights in its little moments of humor and its foray into a modern version of
who the characters are. Tattooed Uncle Fester has “No Regerts”, and neither
will you, if you check out this creepy, kooky, altogether ooky little film.
--Dana Culling
