2022 Reviews – The Addams Family 2

Why-oh-why isn’t the sixties The Addams Family series on any streaming services?! I literally have hundreds of other options, and I’m still not satisfied. If The Addams Family series was on a streaming service that I owned, it would be the next thing I’d watch. But instead, I can view the sequel to the mediocre, somewhat fine, The Addams Family movie from a couple years ago. I remember I was ecstatic by the voice-cast that movie compiled (Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Bette Midler) but compared to the live-action movies from the nineties, for which I’m a huge geek, something about the 2019 showing felt safe, or standard, or superficial. But you know what, even with the nineties movies, it’s the second of the two movies that I like best, so perhaps this sequel can sand down its edges and shine too. If not, at least I know what to expect from these childish cartoon interpretations, so I can sink to their level, and enjoy this movie for what it is. Right?

Wednesday Addams is annoyed when she receives a participation award at the school science fair when she knows she’s the best. Gomez and Morticia Addams also notice that their dear daughter has been a little more withdrawn lately, and not in a fun way. Gomez sees it as his priority to fix his family’s woes with an impromptu road trip around the United States. It will be great, as the family will touch on all their favourite ghoulish attractions – Salem, Sleepy Hallow, Death Valley etc. Meanwhile Uncle Fester has come to the aid of his nephew Pugsley, to help teach him a way with the ladies. But we don’t have to linger on that for long; The Addams Family 2 doesn’t, as this is all about Wednesday, as she uncovers a hint that may lead to a destiny away from the Addams… Greg Tiernan returns to direct, and some early scenes came with Dutch angles and additional colour that promised a more enjoyable bounce to things…

But nope. I tried to turn my brain off, but I just can’t. In fact, I’d have to tear it out to comprehend some of the smaller turn of events in this movie, like the beauty pageant Mums piling on top of each other because they see a ‘talent scout’, or that the family’s not aware of Gomez’s tight toupee, or that Pugsley might be falling in sweet love with his legitimate sister 🤢 There’s a huge problem with The Addams Family 2 and it’s called the script. Give the animation departments at Pixar and Disney a raise because this is what it looks like when a project can’t focus in and yearns for quality control. This movie also crams in as many dead-end one-time genre cliches as it can, and that’s just not meant to be. This movie goes to the well so often in causing Pugsley misery for a punchline that we’re hitting molten core!

Just as I think the live-action movies realised that Wednesday Addams was the most versatile and charismatic character, this movie centres it’s entire plot around her. That’s fine, but what are we doing here? There’s a possibility that Wednesday isn’t an Addams? Yes, she is. Even if it turns out that she’s not biologically an Addams, she’s an Addams. There was always going to be a scene where she remembered her place in her family and all-is-well, so there’s no tension in the foreseeable emotional payoff coming around forty minutes down the runtime. Also, Wednesday doesn’t feel like she knows who she is? Wednesday is one of the most self-assured characters in existence, so to want to take that away from her must come with some top-notch reasoning and I’m not seeing any. Wednesday is sharp enough to appreciate and understand the Addams way better than Pugsley does, and her confidence in knowing what she is, is what makes her a badass. I don’t even understand why we are entertaining this notion. If the movie had come at me with, ‘Wednesday doesn’t know what her future holds’, as she is forced to think on her adult years, beyond the safe haven of her family to where she’ll fit in the wider world, then that’s an interesting and believable existential crisis. It’s established she doesn’t like the adults in her school system, and she’s outgrowing her parents love and affection, craving more. The Addams Family (2019) admittedly flirted with Wednesday rebelling against her parents beliefs, and it’s probably the most successful portion of the movie, but Wednesday came back around. Perhaps this movie means to up the ante here, but the premise and plot is hack.

By the time this movie gets to its climax it’s almost an insult to decency, and not the fun kind. Giant animal-hybrid monster battles… forgettable. Maybe this kooky family isn’t as easy to write for as I would assume – they are certainly a bunch of alluring characters, but what to do with them often proves a cause for concern. Luckily, I’m not paid to figure it out, and I don’t have the answer off the top of my head either. Here’s where I wish I’d seen the television series for more insight into how those initial adaptations ticked 🤷‍♂️ Something that may be holding this incarnation back though, is that it’s satisfied with being a dumb kids movie, watering down the macabre and any potential satire that may occur in juxtaposing social norms. I think The Addams Family should still work as a cartoon though, although I believe the live-action movies were adult movies first, yet were still kid-friendly. I think the counterculture of Family Guy is the closest thing to a modern-day model for what The Addams Family could be – Family Guy often bucks traditional storytelling techniques and risks offence with edgy satire, but as deranged and perverted as their characters seem to be, the writers still lean back on family values for an emotional ending when it’s convenient to believe that the main crew are a loving family. Similarly, The Addams Family works best when they are an intuitive unit, ambivalent to any external disgust because they are happy, and have each other. Although, come to think of it, recent-ish WAG movies like The Lego Batman Movie and Storks were dumb kids movies that managed to capture that biting snapping satire, so what’s really wrong with The Addams Family 2? I’m only making excuses.

I would bet my little Itts that nobody is clambering for an The Addams Family 3. Lurch is probably my favourite representation in this movie and, well… he’s Lurch; he’s hardly supposed to be a favourite. Maybe my world is brighter for just having an ‘Addams Family project in the works, but this movie failed to bring much joy, and it’s much worse than its predecessor. I’ll now await Tim Burton’s Wednesday series to drop on Netflix and hope for delightfully new antics with a fitting tone; fingers crossed. (I think this movie is only receiving a bonus half-a-star because I’m generous.)

1.5