Review: The Addams Family (2019)
The Addams Family is one of those franchises that has different eras that have their die-hard supporters. Fans of the original TV show generally are not the sort who are highly passionate about the original Charles Addams comics. Nor are the fans of the 1990s films super involved with singing the praises of the original show. That’s not to say that this doesn’t happen. It is just that there are different Addams-eras, and they have their principal audience.
Now we enter a new era with 2019’s animated adaptation of The Addams Family. The question that must be asked is whether this take on the family will inspire any similar passions.
They’re creepy and they’re kooky…
We all know The Addams Family and know the ear-worm theme song. We know the basic archetypes. When you go to see a reboot of The Addams Family you already know what to expect. The film follows the origins and the travails of the Addams Family, a group of strange individuals assembled on a haunted house on a hill. The family’s patriarch, Gomez Addams (Oscar Isaac), and the matriarch, Morticia (Charlize Theron), raise their two children Wednesday (Chloë Grace Moretz) and Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard). They are often accompanied by Gomez’s mother, Grandmama (Bette Midler), and his brother, Fester (Nick Kroll). The family also lives with Thing, a severed, sentient hand, and the live-in help, Lurch (Conrad Vernon).
But hey, you know all this.
What you do not know is that movie follows the family as they discover a planned community has sprung up virtually overnight in the valley below. The Addamses are understandably concerned, having been run out of “the old country.” The question remains, however, whether history will repeat itself when they come into the cross hairs of reality TV host Margaux Needler who is banking on the planned community of “Assimilation” to be her greatest triumph. Throw in a dueling subplot about a father understanding his son, and mothers dealing with rebellious daughters, and you have yourself a 2019 Addams Family movie.
The film also features the voices of Snoop Dogg, Allison Janney, and Titus Burgess. There is also a rather fun cameo featuring Catherine O’Hara and Martin Short.
The movie was directed by the pairing of Conrad Vernon and Greg Tierman. Matt Lieberman, Erica Rivinoja, and Conrad Vernon wrote The Addams Family, adapting it from the original comics by Charles Addams, but with plenty of references to the television show as well.
What worked with The Addams Family?
The film isn’t a bad movie. It’s not great, but it is an effective distraction for a little over an hour. For anyone who has grown up with some form of The Addams Family there are nods and continuations of what you’d expect to see in an Addams Family movie, but little else. The story is fairly cloying, even for children, but the idea of taking the story back to Gomez and Morticia’s wedding was a welcome surprise. It established the central conflict of otherness fairly well. It is just a shame that what should be a whip-smart parody of a nuclear family ends up wrapping up with a fairly standard 3rd act action-conflict than anything truly clever.
The brightest spot of the film is the willingness to crib the character designs directly from Charles Addams’ original comics, but the CGI feels fairly texture-less and many of the designs skew just a little too far from the source. Overall though, the willingness to play closer to the original source of the characters is a good impulse and definitely makes the Addamses stand out among computer-animated family fare. The film is not afraid to be ugly and weird.
What didn’t work?
So many elements of the movie smack of a sort of template. The character designs are largely pretty boring outside of the family themselves. Also, there are so many odd choices made that reflect a mid-2000s animated aesthetic and storytelling impulse. Take, for example, celebrity stunt-casting. None of the actors who landed a role in the film really deliver much. I feel we’d have been far better off as viewers with Oscar Isaac as a live-action Gomez rather than delivering a fairly average voice-over role. Even the core cast’s most accomplished voice actor, Nick Kroll, does not really add anything to the film with his take on Fester. It’s the same sort of voices he’s used somewhere in Big Mouth.
Maybe the biggest example of this mid-2000s casting impulse is having Snoop Dogg voice Cousin It. You don’t get to hear Snoop, really, just the sped-up-gibberish of It. The thing is, you could have easily had anyone else do that part. Instead, it went to Snoop, and it was mostly for a gag; Cousin It drives up to the Addams’ mansion blaring “Drop It Like It’s Hot.”
Look, this is not a bad film. It’s just uninspired. While watching it I didn’t think “this was terrible.” But I did feel like there were a lot of lazy choices. It suffers from that same sort of latter-day-Shrek style of a basic story with gags for kids and pop-culture references for the adults. I am not going to be upset at such a paper-thing plot being predictable. I do, however, find myself annoyed the film did not do more to grapple with the more subversive nature of previous Addams Family adaptations.
Final Impressions
The Addams Family is cute but fleeting. If you miss it in theaters you will not be missing much. It’d be worth a catch on Netflix or whatever inevitable streaming service it lands on. It’s a curiosity, but I highly doubt it will inspire a passionate fanbase.
(2 / 5)
How did you feel about The Addams Family? Want to see what we thought of other horror movies? Why not check out our reviews?
Episode three of Amazon Prime’s Fallout continued the themes we’ve seen so far, with an added twist. With comedy and gore already blending, the story has added an air of tragic history for one of its least cuddly characters.
Let’s discuss.
The story
Our story starts with a flashback to before the bombs dropped. We see Coop, filming a movie. His wife is on set as well, and their adorable daughter. Coop has a comfortable life with a family he loves.
Isn’t that just a knife in the heart?
Back in the present, Lucy is traveling through the wastelands with the head of Wilzig. And she’s doing so with the same fear and joy that we’ve seen from her so far. Until that is, she runs into a Gulper. And after eating a defenseless deer, it swallowed up the head.
Eventually, The Ghoul catches up with Lucy and decides to capture her. After using her as bait, he decides to drag her along with him.
Meanwhile, Maximus gets a message from the Brotherhood of Steel. Rather than coming clean, he claims to be Knight Titus and is accidentally sent a new Squire. That squire is Thaddeus, one of Maximus’s bullies from the base. And Maximus wastes no time in taking some sweet, sweet revenge.
Finally, we return to Vault 33. The vault is healing from the Raider attack and the loss of Lucy. Norm and Chet are being punished for letting Lucy leave, by being fired from their jobs. This throws Chet because he had a cool job.
Norm, on the other hand, didn’t like his job. He didn’t like any job. So, since this is the only way anyone gets punishments in the vault, he’s given the task of feeding the Raiders.
And talking to the Raiders was maybe not a healthy thing for Norm to be doing. He might learn something he didn’t want to know.
What worked
The first thing I have to talk about is the massive creature called The Gulper.
This thing was fascinating. It was voracious, fast, and horrifying to look like. It was like a giant axolotl from Hell, with human fingers lining its whole mouth and throat. Why did it need fingers lining its mouth and throat? The better to drag someone down its throat and into its stomach. And the better to drag itself into my nightmares. This creature was well done.
On the flip side of this, I love the fact that the people of Vault 33 are so kind. They’re so willing to forgive, willing to care for their fellow man even when their fellow man is trying to kill them.
I don’t trust it, to be clear. But the perceived kindness from these people is uplifting. And I’m sure it will make whatever is going to eventually happen to them all the worse.
Of course, I can’t talk about the goodness of the vault dwellers without talking about the absolute horribleness of The Ghoul. The Ghoul is not a good person. He is cruel, and selfish, and clearly dislikes Lucy for some reason we do not yet know, and is probably not her fault.
But we kind of understand how he got that way, don’t we? During the flashbacks, we see that he’s lost his wife and daughter. We also see that he was used as a mascot for the very company that created the vaults. And, while we don’t have any concrete proof yet, we can probably guess that these are not the good guys. Even if we haven’t played the games, anyone who’s even slightly genre-savvy can already guess that.
Which is the last thing I want to bring up here.
We know something stinks with the vaults. Something beyond the obvious issues of wealth disparities and the people left outside to die while those who could afford a Vault spot were saved. Something is rotten with the vaults, we all know this. What we don’t know is what form this rot will take.
Not yet.
What didn’t work
Now, I wish I could say this was a perfect episode. But sadly, it wasn’t. And my biggest issue with the episode is with the character Maximus.
Now, I love Maximus. He wants to do good things in the world. He’s the underdog, and who doesn’t love that? He’s honorable and believes in the organization he belongs to.
I don’t love that he cannot do anything right. It feels like he wins fights by falling over and tripping into succeeding. And this character deserves so much more than that. Can we please, just once, see him be good at something or make a sound decision?
All that being said, this was still a fun episode. It was funny and bright, with an ominous feel and a horrific finger-ridden monster. I had a great time with it.
(4 / 5)
Last night’s episode of American Horror Story Delicate was wild. From its star-studded start to its powerfully quiet finish, I was enthralled through every moment.
Let’s discuss.
The story
We begin this episode at the funeral of Dex’s mom. While he’s giving a eulogy, which was very nice, Ms. Preecher walks in. She shouts to the room that Virginia didn’t commit suicide, she was murdered. She also tells Dex to listen to his wife.
What a concept!
Touched by this, or maybe just curious, Anna goes to the hospital to check on Preecher. She falls asleep at the hospital. When she wakes up, Preecher is gone. A nurse says that she was discharged to a group of women.
While at the hospital, Anna also discovers that she’s been nominated for best actress.
At a publicity event for the awards, Anna runs into Cora. And she sees the coat she remembers from her late-night visit near the start of her pregnancy.
With the slightest amount of pressure, Cora spills it all. She and Dex have been having an affair, and Cora was trying to sabotage Anna’s pregnancy. So Anna, channeling her inner Madison Montgomery, kicks him out and heads to the awards ceremony with Siobhan.
There, Siobhan asks her if she wants an Oscar more than anything. If she’d be willing to give up anything for it.
And Anna says yes.
The bargain is then sealed with a kiss.
What worked
I’d like to begin, paradoxically, at the end of the episode. We’ve seen Anna have some terrible, loud, frightening hallucinations in this season. At least, we assume they’re hallucinations. But this one wasn’t loud. It was, in fact, very quiet. Anna is led off stage, without a word, leaving nothing but a puddle of blood behind.
In horror, like in all art, the notes you don’t play are as important as the ones you do. And the notes that weren’t played her rang like a bell.
I also appreciated that this episode describes why being a celebrity would be a huge pain in the ass. Imagine going to an event where the whole purpose is for people to take pictures of you while holding their product. Imagine if they invaded your personal space, sprayed things on you, put things over your eyes, and you were expected to smile and pose.
I don’t know what it is about being a celebrity that makes others feel entitled to a person. To talk with them, take their time, and share in their moments. To touch them without consent. Yes, there are way worse things happening to people. But this isn’t a great way to live. It’s no wonder so many of them go nuts. This is most clearly shown in the scene when Anna is sitting next to Preecher’s bed. She wakes up to find the older woman gone. But all anyone wants to talk about is how she was just nominated for an Oscar. At that moment, she doesn’t give a damn. She cares about this kind woman, and where she’s gone. Just like any other person.
Finally, I appreciated that this season didn’t do what so many AHS seasons do. Which is to say that this episode didn’t feel like the last episode. It felt like the penultimate episode. It felt like there was still more story to tell, not just loose ends to be wrapped up. I appreciate that the writers have finally learned that lesson.
For this season, at least.
What didn’t work
The first thing that bothered me in this episode was Cora’s confession. I said something about this during our live-watch event on Threads. (Join us next week for the finale. Bring popcorn and wine.)
I don’t believe Cora’s confession. I further don’t believe that she just dumped all of this incriminating info on Anna with no more prompting than a wide-eyed look. There was just no reason for it. So, Anna saw her coat? Lots of people have similar coats. This feels fake, and she brought no receipts.
I also found Siobhan’s behavior confusing. At times she seems genuinely concerned for Anna’s wellbeing. At other times, she is more than willing to let her suffer and risk her pregnancy.
While this has been going on all season, it was happening every few minutes in this one. Either Siobhan cares about the welfare of that fetus, or she doesn’t. But she needs to pick a lane.
All in all, I don’t know what to expect from next week’s season finale. Anna has her Oscar, but now she might lose her baby. She might also get sucked into some horrible cult and experience a bad death. We won’t know until next week.
See you then.
(4 / 5)
Episode two of Amazon Prime’s Fallout was equal parts funny and bloody. This almost always leads to a good time.
The story
We begin this episode with the birth of some puppies that look like they’ve had a rough start to life. Each one is weighed, with the ones who fall short being incinerated.
One pup who is just below the correct weight gets a bit of a thumb on their scale. The scientist weighing them, Wilzig, writes down the proper weight. He later takes the puppy home to raise instead of putting them into what looks like an unforgiving training program.
Eventually, we see Wilzig put some blue glowing thing into his neck. When a soldier comes for him, Dog attacks the soldier, and the two escape.
We go from there to the wilderness, where Lucy is recovering from the last episode and enjoying a campfire at night. Wilzig and Dog come out of the shadows, saving Lucy from a bug monster. Wilzig tells Lucy she should go home. And if she’s not going to go home, she needs to evolve.
The next day Lucy finds her way to a town called Filly. As a Pennsylvanian, it hurts me to spell it that way. Lucy is entranced by this town, though clearly put off by the fact that no one is very nice here.
She eventually finds her way to a shop run by a delightful woman named Ma June. Ma doesn’t seem particularly interested in helping Lucy. Or, frankly, having Lucy in her shop.
Or in her town.
Eventually, Wilzig is tracked to this same shop, being tracked by The Ghoul. This is our final primary character. Lucy defends Wilzig, being aided at the last moment by Maximus.
Maximus, by the way, has been having a terrible time. After finally becoming a squire he’s disappointed to find that his knight, Knight Titus, is a terrible person.
Fortunately, Maximus doesn’t have to put up with Titus for long. After Titus gets the bright idea to go hunting, he’s attacked by a mutated bear. Maximus freezes, unable to save him. Then, well, he decides not to save him.
It was Titus’s idea to go hunt the bear, after all.
What worked
The first thing I want to draw attention to is the shootout scene at Filly. This scene checked every box a fight scene should check. It was fun to watch, with great effects. But it also gave us insight into the characters. Lucy is a decent fighter and has a strong moral compass. The Ghoul is callus and desensitized to death. And Maximus continues to be, well, sort of bad at this whole fighting thing. But with enough moral fortitude that we have a hard time blaming him.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the dog. Who’s name, as far as I’ve been able to ascertain, is just Dog. Which is fine. He doesn’t need to have a name to be a very good boy. He’s sweet, loyal, and fearless.
Also, puppies. Puppies are always great.
Finally, I’d like to shine a spotlight on Lucy’s reaction to the world at large. She is both amazed and terrified by everything. And while she certainly doesn’t want to be rude, she also doesn’t want to be taken advantage of. The best example of this is when she stops to ask for directions with a bright smile and a gun.
Once again, I don’t have anything bad to say about this episode. It was funny, dark, and fun to watch. I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the season.
(4 / 5)
