The Addams Family (2019)

2019 • 86 minutes

About this movie

The Addams Family is a satirical inversion of the ideal American family; an eccentric, wealthy clan who delight in the macabre and are unaware that people find them bizarre or frightening. They originally appeared as an unrelated group of 150 single panel cartoons by Addams, about half of which were originally published in The New Yorker between debuting in 1938 and Addams' 1988 death. They have since been adapted to other media, including the well-known television series, a series of live-action films, and most recently a Broadway musical.

Ratings and reviews

No. Just no. This movie is absolutely completely utterly abysmal. I only got through it all because I kept hoping it would get good. This is the opposite of the movies from the 90s, which is to say, it's horrible. This was nothing like the old movies, they had interesting plots, funny dialogue, and a lot of dark humor that I found perfectly well fit for the movie. This movie is the opposite. None of the dialogue is funny, the plot is so dull that it would be more interesting to watch a trashcan.

People seem to have gone a bit harsh on this, but I had a lot of fun with it. It was entertaining, funny, and all around quirky, much like I remembered it. I thought it was kind of cool getting to see something of a starting point for the Addams. The one thing I wasn't as keen on was the style. It had character, but may have been a little over the top for my liking. But that's only based off of my own aesthetic ideals.

The plot is as strong as the other Addams Family movies, which is to say, weak. For the '90s movies, though, it got by on the strength of its characters and dialogue, as well as the perfect cast. Here, everything is hollow. All of the characters are reminiscent of their cartoon portrayals, which is fine. But the voice actors and direction leave a lot to be desired. There are a few great lines of dialogue, but at a quip every 15 minutes, you feel like you're crawling from one to the next. The real crime is in the character interaction. The love between Morticia and Gomez, the murder plots between Wednesday and Pugsley--they only show up once, and then they're gone. The '90s films relied on the interaction of the Addams. Here, their interactions feel hollow and clash with the characters. I'm disappointed.