Film Review: "The Addams Family" (2019).

"Think your family is weird? Think again" for The Addams Family. This 3D CGI-animated supernatural fiction fantasy black comedy horror film directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan, written by Matt Lieberman and Pamela Pettler, and based on the characters created by Charles Addams. Members of the mysterious and spooky Addams family - Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Wednesday, Uncle Fester and Grandma - are readily preparing for a visit from their even creepier relatives. But trouble soon arises when shady TV personality Margaux Needler realizes that the Addams' eerie hilltop mansion is standing in the way of her dream to sell all the houses in the neighborhood.

In 2010, Illumination Entertainment acquired the rights to The Addams Family comics and announced an animated film with Tim Burton attached as director. The film was planned to be entirely stop-motion animated with the characters based on Addams' original drawings. However, in July 2013, the film was cancelled. Eventually, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures brought the rights and announced that they would produce an animated film, with Pettler hired to pen the script. In October 2017, it was announced that the film would be produced and directed by Vernon, and Lieberman rewrote Pettler's script. In December, it was reported that Oscar Isaac was in talks to voice the role of Gomez Addams in the film. For many years fans have lobbied for Isaac to take the role of Gomez, and prior to this film, when he was asked about the idea, Isaac expressed interest. In June 2018, Isaac was officially cast, alongside Charlize Theron, Allison Janney, Bette Midler, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard and Nick Kroll. By August 2019, Aimee Garcia, Elsie Fisher, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Short, Snoop Dogg, Pom Klementieff, Tituss Burgess, and Jenifer Lewis rounded out the film's cast.

The film features the voice of Isaac, Theron, Grace Moretz, Wolfhard, Kroll, Dogg, Midler, Janney, O'Hara, Short, Fisher, Klementieff, Dogg, Garcia, Burgess, and Lewis. The performances given by the cast were both creepy and predictable, mysterious and rather tame. The performances was an extended collection of one-liners and not much more. However, the film displays the bizarre rhythms of the cast, and moves us from gag to gag with a stately slowness that keeps a fundamentally slapstick-driven film from ever feeling too busy or rushed.

The Addams Family is peppered with amusing sight gags and one-liners, but the disjointed script doesn't cohere into a successful whole. However, the film captures the family's droll humor with just the right mixture of morbidity and genuine care. At times this can all become a little silly but Vernon and Tiernan manages to rein the film in before things get too ridiculous. Vernon and Tiernan infused the film with a gleefully broad visual sensibility that remains a highlight from start to finish. Ultimately, despite inspired casting and nifty visual trappings, the eagerly awaited animated effort may be a major disappointment. The film's aimlessness and repetitiveness eventually become draining. A late Halloween treat giftwrapped for Christmas, the film does not live up to its packaging.

Simon says The Addams Family receives:

Also, see my review for Sausage Party.