Review of Addams Family Values (1993) by Jason W — 29 May 2010

After the Addams family settles down with Fester (Christopher Lloyd) back in the clan, Morticia (Anjelica Huston) and Gomez (Raul Julia) find out they're expecting. After the baby arrives, Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) try to kill the baby leaving Morticia and Gomez with no other choice but to find a nanny (Joan Cusack). But the nanny has bigger plans for Fester, which include Wednesday and Pugsley going to summer camp to get them out of the way.

With a movie originally planned to be directed by Tim Burton, Barry Sonnenfeld did a surprisingly amazing job. No one actually expected it to do as well as it did, but it did so well that it warranted a sequel. While The Addams Family always looked good on paper in it's original Charles Addams conjecture, making a movie out of it with a first, third, and second act was not easy to do. Making a sequel to it would be even harder than making an original movie from the comic strip come TV series. So how did they do at making a sequel to the original Addams Family movie?

On the plus side most of the original players are back to have a little fun with the Addams Family name. While I thoroughly enjoyed Grandmama (Judith Malina) from the first movie, in the second movie Taxi vet Carol Kane takes her place taking the role in a much more comedic direction than just a dark direction. On top of that, Raul Julia does an amazing job reprising his role as Gomez for the sequel, in what will become his last great major screen role (I, as well as many others, are trying to forget Street Fighter when I say this). All in all, Addams Family Values carries a bit more of a comedic tone than a darkly comedic tone this time around than the first installment.

Christina Ricci really rules the roost this time around. While the first film was mainly about Fester and his journey to redemption (in a very Addams way), but this time it's more about Wednesday surviving something of a summer boot camp. Most of the players this time around are really just incidental, including Joan Cusack (who does do an amazing job as Fester's finace with much bigger intentions), Peter MacNicol, and Christine Baranski. Ricci, for a young, and inexperienced actress for the most part, does a great job of showing up the adults and playing a character that appears to go from dark to sweet and back again.

More so than it's predecessor, I seriously have to say that this movie has it's flaws. While in the first movie, Fester was endearing, in this movie he's way too over the top. I love Christopher Lloyd, but he really needed to tone it down in this movie. On top of that, the writers seemed to be on a mission to place the characters in awkward positions. While this might have worked in the first film to a certain extent, placing all the characters in awkward positions throughout the second film is just a little too much for one film to completely sustain. It really wears on you after too long.

The Addams Family was enough, in my opinion, the sequel didn't need to happen, and, unfortunately there are even moments when it seems they've run out of ideas (the dance between Gomez and Morticia is fun, but seems almost like a ripoff of the Mamushka dance from the movie before it). If you watch it, watch it for Ricci's brilliant performance and for Raul Julia's last great performance in a role he was born for. My only wish is that it was better, or should I say half as good as it's predecessor.

3/5.