The Addams Family Review

3 stars of family friendly spooky fun.

The Addams Family is based on the beloved characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938. This animated version of the family offers a slightly more modern perspective on what it means to be different. It is directed by Greg Tiernan (Sausage Party, Thomas and Friends) and Conrad Vernon (Monsters vs. Aliens, Shrek 2).

“Don’t worry, I’ll sleep in the attic. You won’t know I’m there. I’ve practiced that move in a lot of people’s homes.”

The film opens in the Old Country with the whole Addams Family assembled in the woods to celebrate the wedding of Gomez Addams (Oscar Isaac – Ex Machina, A Most Violent Year) and Morticia (Charlize Theron – Monster, Mad Max: Fury Road). Unfortunately, the locals do not appreciate their presence and a torch wielding mob runs them from the town.

Their search for a place to call home leads them to New Jersey, where they accidentally hit someone with their car. Fortunately for all concerned, this gentleman turns out to be Lurch (Conrad Vernon), escaped inmate of a now deserted asylum for the criminally insane.

This remote and creepy location offers the perfect home and they settle down to raise a family. Thirteen years later, they have two children, Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz – Hugo, Greta) and Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard – It: Chapter 2, Stranger Things) and live the life they want in their spooky mansion, with butler Lurch and disembodied hand, Thing.

As Pugsley prepares for his Mazurka (an Addams Family rite of passage), Wednesday begins to wonder what life outside the mansion is like and will soon find out when makeover queen Margaux Needler (Allison Janney – Juno, Minions) takes on the town of Assimilation in close proximity to their home. Despite a friendship between her daughter Parker (Elsie Fisher – Despicable Me) and Wednesday, this woman will stop at nothing to try and make the Addams Family the same as everyone else.

This new version of the Addams Family is enjoyable to watch. It is very obviously aimed at quite young children and is a perfect introduction for that age group to these well established characters. There are also nods to the adult audience, when Wednesday walks in with a red balloon, Morticia says “Strange, there’s usually a murderous clown attached to the other end of these”, a reference to Stephen King’s It.

It has been given a modern upgrade, with cell phones and social media playing a role in the story, but no kid these days would identify with a story that doesn’t include familiar elements.

It deals with the subject of bullying and inclusion, through the story of Margaux and her need for everyone to conform and gives a message to children that it’s okay to be different.

This will certainly appeal to your young ones and is well worth adding to your collection.

“We never go anywhere. Who knows the untold horrors we may be missing out on.”

The Addams Family is available to buy now on DVD and Blu-ray.