Review: The Addams Family

Release date: October 11, 2019
Running time: 87 minutes
Starring: Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz 

Ba da da dun, snap snap.  The abnormally morbid family is back in an animated feature / reboot.  The Addams Family is a retelling of the classic TV series and movies, with all the familiar characters you love animated in a unique and very Addams Family style.  The story follows the Addams as they try to adjust when their isolated castle unknowingly gets surrounded by suburbs and their quiet life gets inundated with normal humans.

As an animated feature, the first thing you will notice is the animation.  And although it manages to capture the characters surprisingly well, the animation itself is not as eye catching as I would have hoped.  All of the characters are animated in an exaggerated, cartoonish style, but there are a lot of little details that just don't seem to be included.  Nothing really stands out about the movie from an animation standpoint.  Maybe it was because the Addams style tends to be more drab and morbid, but the animation just didn't catch my eye.  

The voice acting is similarly flat; despite the fact that the film has an all star cast that succeeds at evoking the notsalgia of the Addams series, the writing doesn't really stand out.  The cast is well known and I have loved them in other roles, but in this movie they were cohesive but not amazing.  The dialog and jokes were not as funny as I expected and the emotions were muted.  I felt like some of the references were weird just to be weird, and didn't hit as well as I would have hoped.  Many of the Addams morbid jokes were there and worked, but overall the humor wasn't laugh out loud funny.  And the story started off very slowly and then barreled to a conclusion.  

The Addams Family is a nostalgic animated feature that captures the style and characters of the main show.  However, the film's animation and humor don't snap and the family is maybe best viewed at home.

Rent it