Movie Review: The Addams Family (2019)

The Addams Family (2019) directed by Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon

The macabre family created by cartoonist Charles Addam got a theatrical animated treatment in 2019. The family is driven out of the old country by the typical pitchfork- and torch-wielding locals. In search of a suitably horrible place to live, they move to an abandoned insane asylum in America. They have a happy satisfying life on their lonely, fog-shrouded mountaintop home. The fog starts to dissipate when a TV home makeover star (Allison Janney) builds an idyllic suburban community where the local swamp used to be. She's planning on selling fifty houses to her audience. The fog clearing reveals the dark and foreboding hilltop home, ruining the view of every house in town. The TV star wants to do one more makeover, though the Addams are resistant. They have their own problems. Son Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard) needs to perform a sabre dance as his rite of passage into adulthood; he's more interested in explosives than bladed weapons. Daughter Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz) is curious about the outside world (they never leave home) and wants to be different from the family.

The movie has the fairly familiar theme of balancing conformity and individuality. The filmmakers do a good job of seeing that tension from many different angles--between parents and children, parents and in-laws, the Addams family and the town, middle school students and each other, etc. Plenty of opportunities for conflict and humor result. The movie has no huge hilarious moments but I did laugh often enough. The odd, exaggerated animation fits the oddness of the characters and the larger-than-life situation. The voice performances were much more average--no one was particularly flamboyant or over-the-top, which would fit the film better. The various plotlines and the ending were obvious and predictable, leaving me with a very average impression by the end of the show.

Mildly recommended--I found it entertaining enough but not a must watch.