Is it possible The Addams Family has never been funny? I used to find this shtick riotous, but two animated films later, I’m puzzled. The macabrethon has some moments, I suppose, like Uncle Fester (voice of Nick Kroll) slowly turning into an octopus and Wednesday (Chloë Grace Moretz) employing a voodoo doll to humiliate her brother Puggsly (Javon Walton), but I’m consistently left with a feeling of the “is this all there is to gallows humor?”
Perhaps the tales of a family that communes better with the dead than the living were not meant for a family audience. Perhaps there is too much reliance on “fish-out-of-water” humor. The whole point of the routine is to take an Addams, put them in civilization, and watch the latter crumble. It feels more like a comic strip than a plot. Hence I’m left pondering the conclusion that maybe the shtick was never that funny. Shame … cuz I always liked The Addams Family even when they didn’t make me laugh.
The Addams Family 2 did one good thing right off the vampire bat: put Wednesday front-and-center. Maybe it’s my love for how a sub-adult Christina Ricci handled the role, but all of the other Addams lumped together in a big pile aren’t worth half the attention of Wednesday. And then the film proceeds to make a series of bad Wednesday-related moves. First Wednesday is in the science fair. That doesn’t quite seem Wednesday-ish, nor does her 200+ IQ, but I suppose we will allow it. I mean, I could see Wednesday getting into mad science; that makes sense. And she’s clearly the right end of the bell curve for intelligence with her personality swapping concoction, which deserves to win whatever award is being given.
This is the moment of bad move #2: every child regardless of entry wins the same ribbon and Wednesday is pissed off. This is Addams canon the writers have decided to defy. I know how “participation trophy” is some sort of dog whistle for angry Americans. We know that brings out the worst in Boomers (who invented the Participation Trophy, btw. It sure wasn’t Gen X), but what does Wednesday care about trophies? It implies Wednesday cares about competition and compares
herself to her peers. Wednesday doesn’t have peers. Wednesday is Wednesday. She hangs out in morgues and thinks about death; what the Hell does Wednesday care about school or grades or other children?
This opening molds into the film’s two major plots: 1) Wednesday is concerned that Gomez (Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron) might not be her real parents and 2) Worried about Wednesday’s lackluster participation in family matters, Gomez and Morticia plan a family road trip. (What was I saying about “fish-out-of-water?”) So the basic action that follows is The Addamses being dicks across America while Wednesday surreptitiously searches for her real father. Neither of these is a great plot – the first because it’s just an excuse to make more fish-out-of-water jokes; the second because there isn’t a doubt in anybody’s mind that Wednesday is an Addams. I mean, considering otherwise is just wrong.
On the family’s trip to Niagara Falls, I counted one bad story line (barreling over Niagara Falls is a stupid human trick, not a plot), two counts of attempted murder (Wednesday and Gomez, one apiece) and one count of criminal negligence (Fester). Was there any humor in there? Ummm…maybe?
The Addams Family isn’t quite Tom and Jerry irrelevant yet, but these films haven’t helped. And, quite frankly, neither has the Hotel Transylvania franchise. I think there is still macabre delight to be had in our world, but this ain’t it.
I don’t want to say Addams Family is dooky
But it meant more when the players were spooky
And if I’m gonna go there
I don’t need to care
In a franchise that invented the word “ooky”
Rated PG, 93 Minutes
Director: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon, Laura Brousseau
Writer: Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit, Ben Queen
Genre: Sadly … fairly run-of-the-mill comedy
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Misunderstood children
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Their parents
