The 313th Review!
I just need to get through the next week and then it's vacation all I ever wanted! After everything that's been going on this time off couldn't come at a better time. But before I get there, I have days to get through and movies to check out. So the family and I sat down to watch...
The Addams Family (2019)
Since trailers and commercials for the new one are popping up everywhere, Becca and I decided it may be the time to check this out in case we want to make our first trip to the theater since Endgame.
The movie starts with Gomez and Morticia's midnight wedding. Naturally the townsfolk come armed with torches and force the family to flee from their home. They narrowly escape and then spend the next few minutes trying to figure out where they are going to live. They both agree to move to some place terrible, rotten and somewhere no one would even want to be caught dead in. The very next scene then shows them driving up and passing a sign that says "Welcome to New Jersey." Well played, movie!
I think by now everyone reading this knows who the Addams are so I don't need to go into too much detail on them. If you don't, really all you need to know is they're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky and finally, they're all together ooky. While they're trying to live a macabre life of darkness and solitude they run into a reality TV star who hosts a fixer-upper show. Things go bad when the fog surrounding the home of the Addams' disappears and she sees in horror the giant eyesore right outside her utopia. She then decides she will stop at nothing to drive them out.
First off, I love the Addams Family, pretty much everything about them. I remember watching the movies from the 90's and wishing I lived in that creepy house. Their look, their lifestyle and how they lived fascinated me at such a young age. I rocked "The Pugsley" haircut for a lot of my younger years.
When watching this and the other movies you realize how strange they really are. I'm not just talking about the very weirdness of the family. I'm saying they were and still are a big oddity when it comes to TV families. You flip through channels and you'll find 50 shows about dysfunctional family units. What made them so different is Morticia and Gomez are very much in love and the comedy isn't derived from them sniping at each other. What you see on the surface is just a mask and deep down every single cares deeply about the others.
I find myself dragging my feet when it comes to making a decision on this movie. When it started and for about a half hour, I didn't like it. I couldn't get past that this wasn't the same people as the incredible cast from the 90's. I realize the animation was to be more in line with their original look, but Raul Julia, Christina Ricci, Christopher Lloyd and of course, Anjelica Huston are just so iconic in those roles. This version has an extremely well known cast, but it just fell flat for me. For the longest time the only thing I liked about the movie was every time Lurch popped up, President Baby would turn to me and say, "Daddy, it's a monster!"
But then the fog lifts literally and figuratively. That's when the movie gets much better. That's because that's when they start meeting the people in the new town and the movie focuses more on Wednesday. The "It" girl of the school tries to bully Wednesday and her friends and it's funny how fast she shuts that shit down. It's like the scene from In Bruges when the tower security guard starts poking Harry in the head and he just glares. You watch and you just know the oblivious person has a world of hurt coming their way.
As for the movie, I thought the ending was cute and loved the message. The housing project of the reality star is called "Assimilation" and everyone is encouraged to conform and fit in, including her daughter. In the end the mob of townspeople realize the Addams' aren't monsters, they're just a family with their own quirks and everyone is weird in their own way and people should be accepted and celebrated for it. In high school I was the quiet kid who mainly kept to himself so this movie resonated with me. No, I wasn't bullied. One fellow once decided he was going to tap dance over the line, but like Wednesday Addams, I shut that down real quick.
Some advice if you want to check them out; before you watch this or the sequel, do your best to forget about the 90's movies because this isn't going to compare and there's no way it could. For me, the nostalgia and love for the movies of my childhood were too ingrained in my head and I couldn't help but see the very talented cast as copiers. Stil, it's a fun movie once it really gets going. The first half hour is too chock full of gags that seem like they're trying too hard to be funny instead of just being funny. But once the movie focuses more attention on Wednesday, the better it gets. She is, and always has been, a very cool character.
6.5 Dr. Chainsaws!
The Addams Family
Get ready to snap your fingers! The Addams Family is back on the big screen in the first animated comedy about the kookiest family on the block. Funny, outlandish, and utterly iconic, the Addams Family redefines what it means to be a good neighbor.
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Nick Kroll
Directors: Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan
PG - Animation, Comedy Movie - 2019 - 1h 27m