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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe\nAddams Family have been a part of American culture since their one-panel\ncartoons appeared in The New Yorker in 1938. Their history includes a TV series\nin the 60\u2019s (that of course gave us that snap-happy theme song), two\nlive-action films in the 90\u2019s, countless animated adaptations, and a\ndearly-departed Broadway musical, important to me because actress Rachel\nPotter, who played Wednesday in the show, let me buy her a drink in a bar\nduring a Tony Awards party. The new animated film has to live up to a rich\nlegacy, and although it will probably make a decent amount of money between now\nand Halloween, it is a major creative letdown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All\nthe classic characters are here: twisted traditionalist father Gomez (Oscar\nIsaac), macabre mother Morticia (Charlize Theron), moody-even-for-a-teenager\ndaughter Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz), brilliant son Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard),\nweirdo Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll), outspoken Grandmama (Bette Midler), lurch-y\nbutler Lurch (Conrad Vernon), walking pile of hair Cousin Itt (Snoop Dogg,\napparently, though the character only communicates in squeaks), and disembodied\nhand Thing (nobody, probably because he has no body). The movie also throws in\na bunch of other odd relatives, teasing that we\u2019ll get to know their stories\nlater, perhaps hinting at an animated series to come. If that series is\nanything like this movie, I\u2019ll be content to let it wither and die, appropriate\ngiven the subject matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\nare scraps of plot about Gomez and Morticia fleeing a world that rejects them,\nthe kids growing up in isolation, Wednesday wanting to go to public school just\nto annoy her parents, Pugsley training for a reunion-worthy swordplay ritual\nthat he hates, and a neighbor (Allison Janney) who wants to destroy the\nfamily\u2019s converted-asylum home because it\u2019s an eyesore and has no business\noverlooking her town with the way-too-on-the-nose name of Assimilation. None of\nit really matters, the movie knows you\u2019re just here to see the Addams Family be\nthe Addams Family. Yeah, if nothing else, everybody pretty much stays in\ncharacter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s\nno getting around it, the Addams Family likes some unusual things. Their house\nis decorated with cobwebs and dust. Their favorite pastimes involve torturing\neach other with medieval implements. They keep bats, a hungry lion, and a\nsentient tree as pets. As a matter of fact, they seem to like everything bad.\nIf they wish to bid you welcome, they\u2019ll say \u201cIt\u2019s horrible to see you.\u201d That\ntype of wordplay gets old in this movie before Wednesday and Pugsley are even\nborn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nfamily\u2019s redeeming quality is that they\u2019re really sweet and loving in spite of\ntheir unorthodox ways. The parents want what\u2019s best for the kids, even if that\nmeans unwisely shunning social interaction. They at least make an effort to be\nnice to their neighbors, which naturally is more than can be said of the insecure\nneighbors themselves. And there is much emphasis on defending the family from\nthe many, many people who wish to do it harm. The shared value seems to be\n\u201cNobody hurts my family\u2026 but me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But\nhaving watched \u201cThe Addams Family\u201d in various iterations, I already knew all of\nthis, and the movie adds little to the family dynamic. Maybe a few jokes about\nsmartphones and home renovation shows, but that\u2019s it. Speaking of jokes, a lot\nof the humor in this movie falls flat. I was able to guess the vast majority of\npunchlines before they were uttered, and the physical humor is equally\nuninspired, not to mention some annoying smutty jokes snuck in to theoretically\nentertain understandably bored adults. I hate to disparage a property I love as\nmuch as \u201cThe Addams Family,\u201d but it\u2019s being poorly handled here. I wasn\u2019t the\nbiggest fan of \u201cAbominable\u201d a few weeks back, but it\u2019s a much better choice for\nfamily viewing than this unwelcome reboot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grade: C-<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Addams Family\u201d is rated PG for\nmacabre and suggestive humor, and some action. Its running time is only 87\nminutes, and that\u2019s the best thing about it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Bob Garver The Addams Family have been a part of American culture since their one-panel cartoons appeared in The New Yorker in 1938. Their history includes a TV… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":45038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45037"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}