Addams Family CG Movie

[ShyViolet]

LOL kinda funny I just passed IHOP yesterday and their sign advertised the toys.


Anyway, this is the opening to the 1992 cartoon. I never watched it, so maybe it was good. It looks kinda meh though. (Just my impression.)


https://youtu.be/-8xFFm6lEMo

[ShyViolet]

Trailer for original 1991 film. For some reason I’ve always preferred it over the ‘93 sequel (not that I don’t enjoy that one too). . Love the very, um, subtle Tombstone Pizza plug right at the end. Ha.


https://youtu.be/y3Vni14-xC0


Raul and Anjelica were both fantastic. They both had amazing charisma and presence and basically carried the film. Christopher Lloyd was great too. (And of course Christina Ricci in her film debut! )

(Dumb trivia: The guy who played Lurch also played Troi’s mom’s man servent in Next Gen.)

[Ben]

The thing about the '92 cartoon for me was that it didn’t really reflect either the original beloved 60s series *or* the '91 movie, which ironically kind of did, to an extent.

Of course, there’s much to be said for it being it’s own take on Addams' original, but it wasn’t really that either! I must say I quite enjoyed it enough, though, when it was on TV, though I don’t remember it with any particular fondness (or regret for watching, as I did for the absolutely awful Beetlejuice and Little Shop spinoffs).

I do absolutely adore Marc Shaiman's scores for both movies, however. So lush and twisted. Yes, he’s basically doing an Elfman pastiche (both films are clear Burton homages, which is why he keeps getting linked to a new Addams), but they’re also so much more than that.

I’m just glad that the second is finally finally out on Blu-ray this week, even if both films remain resolute in their lacking of any quality extras - it’s weird how two obviously successful and perennial movies seemingly warrant nothing when we know there were TV specials, Sonnenfeld would be quite happy to sit for a commentary, and most of the cast is still around for a retrospective.

(Ricci's debut was actually the Cher and Bob Hoskins vehicle Mermaids, eighteen months earlier. That’s the one known for the It's In His Kiss song and video, and the bathtub poster. Addams was her breakout role a year later.)

[Bill1978]

I just wish the first Addams film was available for a physical home purchase in Australia. I can easily get #2, but for some reason #1 is a no show

[Daniel]

Values is a masterpiece. One of those rare times where I feel the sequel is better.

[ShyViolet]

Oh yeah, don’t get me wrong, it’s a great film! So many amazing lines:


“Children, why do you hate the baby?”
“We don’t hate him. We just want to play with him. Especially his head.”

[EricJ]

Until we get to the whole "Wednesday at summer camp" plot, at which point we get another producer who has NO idea what the original show was about.

Everybody, from Broadway musicals, to Tim Burton & Bryan Singer, thinks it's about "A free-spirited family, flying their freak-flag at the repressed normie world!" (And often making the usual, ahem, metaphor out of that. )
Nnno: Gomez & Morticia think they're utterly shining members of respectable society, even if everyone else around them tends not to...share that opinion.
In Values, however, Barry Sonnenfeld apparently listened to the MC Hammer songs too many times, and now thought the family was the Righteous PC Avenger, delivering their macabre paybacks on nasty hypocritical un-PC babysitters and Aryan camp counselors. (As the CG movie will likely do with their "Perfect TV host" plot.) Too bad, too, since Sonnenfeld got the first movie so spot-on.

Thing is, no matter who on the original 60's series tried to take advantage of them, somehow, cosmic karma protected them, and no danger ever touched the Family's self-delusional world or let them know the world was in any way disapproving:
On another forum, there was an Impeachment-news discussion of "How the heck did Trump get elected in the first place? Why did we think this guy was a genius, anybody remember?" And all I could answer with was that episode where Gomez ran for mayor, and the voters and newspapers were convinced, "This Addams candidate is a genius! He's deliberately making a fool of the incumbent mayor, and brilliantly satirizing the entire political process!--A real new voice in politics!"

[Ben]

Too bad, too, since Sonnenfeld got the first movie so spot-on.

I’m glad you said this, as through the first part of your post I was thinking "but the first film was perfect"! I actually like parts of the second even more, but you’re right about the summer camp sequence, and even though the girl scouts cookies line gets the biggest laugh, it kind of breaks the unawareness the family has, and turns the film into a summer movie as opposed to the wintry feel the franchise should always have. Also, and this can’t be helped, but there was something more "innocent" about the kids in the first film; by the time they have grown, even just a year or two, by the second one, they seem to be more self-aware and surly teenagey rather than innocents. That said, everything else about Values is on par with the first, and the adult performances show everyone even more comfortable in their parts; a bit of a shame a third was never made.

[EricJ]

Oh yeah, don’t get me wrong, it’s a great film! So many amazing lines:

“Children, why do you hate the baby?”
“We don’t hate him. We just want to play with him. Especially his head.”

But there were some great lines in the original series too.
(For those curious, or who don't have the disk boxset, PlutoTV has been running a 24/7 streaming channel of the original in plug-preparation of the movie.)

In one episode, a fugitive is stranded at the mansion after his car broke down, and trying to get away while the unaware Family is delighted to entertain their "guest". They're so pleased with their cordial guest, they decide to throw him a surprise party, and Morticia tells the children, "But remember, it's to be a secret, and you're not to tell a living soul...Or anyone else, either."
Cut immediately to the children at the bottom of the stairs singing "We know a se-cret!" as the fugitive comes down:
"'Secret', huh? What is it, Satan's coming to dinner?"
"Nah, that was last week!"

[Daniel]

Eww, black and white!

Ah, takes me back. True classic.

[Randall]

Lots of discussion here about everything BUT the new movie!

Well, we watched it at home tonight, and I thought it was actually kind of beautiful. The designs were great, and the animation looked much better in motion than what the stills suggested. While it was relatively low-budget, the directors knew how to make it look as good as it could with the budget they had, and I really didn't feel it was lacking at all. Detail was there in plenty, but economies were found in other ways. In fact, it was a nice change from overcrowded, hyper-realistic CGI films. Certainly, it comes out more Illumination than Pixar. And that's not a bad thing. The directors found their own groove, and they did well.

Most importantly, we all had a lot of laughs. But the story was great, too, portraying the family as immigrants, and arguably refugees, eagerly embracing their new home. Once they meet their neighbors, there's a story that says a lot about accepting newcomers to our communities in this age of mass migration. Far from maudlin or corny, It made it feel quite contemporary, while not at all changing anything. The Addams were still their regular morbid, kooky, delightful selves, and Mr. and Mrs. were as amorous as ever. Some might quibble with Wednesday's plot, where she tries to look more "normal," but it's really quite a clever and funny way of showing her to be a typical teenager rebelling against her parents. The Addams may not be "typical," but some things are just universal.

[droosan]

I recall enjoying this in the theater .. but thinking -- pretty much the entire time I was watching it -- that the Hotel Transylvania trilogy had stolen much of its thunder .. it had a lot of the same types of gags, with a very similar approach. Even the character & set design seemed as though it could've been in either franchise.

Again: it was all very nicely done, and enjoyable enough .. for the one time I'd viewed it. I haven't yet bothered to revisit it on Blu-ray or streaming, though.

[Randall]

It has been a while since I watched a HT film, and I haven't seen HT3 yet, so I hadn't thought of that. You're right, which makes me glad I didn't notice while I was watching!

[James]

I actually thought the refugee thing was very shoehorned in. (Technically it's the new townfolks that are the immigrants since the Addams' have been there for years already!) But other than that is was a lot more fun than expected. Thought the voice cast was really good.

I score animated movies even if I don't review them for the site because I use that spreadsheet when figuring out what to give later movies. I gave Addams Family a 4 overall and a 7 fun factor.

[Randall]

I don't think I agree with your definition of "immigrants."

I know what you mean; it seemed like it was the Addams being "invaded." But those townfolk were Americans living in Jersey, and they had been unaware of The Addams presence until that cloud lifted. They certainly felt like the Addams were newcomers. (And we don't really know how long the town was there, either, for that matter.) The Addams fleeing Europe and coming to the USA as a perceived safehaven was the whole thrust of the story. While it may have not been expected, it was not so much shoehorned in as it was the whole point.