The Addams Family 2 – Film Review

In The Addams Family 2, Morticia and Gomez are distraught that their children are growing up, skipping family dinners, and totally consumed with “scream time.” To reclaim their bond, they decide to cram Wednesday, Pugsley, Uncle Fester, and the crew into their haunted camper and hit the road for one last miserable family vacation. Their adventure across America takes them out of their element and into hilarious run-ins with their iconic cousin, IT, as well as many new kooky characters. What could possibly go wrong?

2019 was a really strong year for movies. We had The Lighthouse, Parasite, and it was the year that my all-time favorite film, Midsommar, was released. However, not all films from 2019 were great as is to be expected every year. One of the worst, most painfully dull movies from that year was without a doubt Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon’s animated re-imagining of The Addams Family. It had an absolutely stacked voice cast and had superb animation, but suffered from terrible jokes, an incredibly weak story, and it just felt like one of those movies that didn’t really need to exist.

Sadly, I feel the exact same way about The Addams Family 2,  the direct sequel to the one from two years ago. Instead of correcting the wrongs from the first film and actually making it a smart family film with wit and a great story, it’s yet another terribly unfunny, purposeless, and downright juvenile follow-up that only exists to make some money. Why did the first film get a sequel in the first place? Well, it’s simple really. It made lots of money. Therefore… a sequel was inevitable.

To be fair, I can totally understand how hard it must be to make a film centered around The Addams Family in the first place, simply because they are extremely weird individuals who basically are the exact opposite of regular humans and how they behave. They find death and anything dangerous to be perfectly normal. In one of the only decent scenes in this film, Fester mentions a test he had to take called “How to Frighten Girls to Impress Them”.

However, it is apparent to me after watching this film that the four screenwriters behind the project don’t really get how to adapt this strange, macabre family and make it work. The original television series and my personal favorite, The New Addams Family, have so much witty humor on display that’s not carried over here. The majority of the “jokes” here are toilet-related and I suppose the screenwriters must have thought this was funny and would’ve made people laugh, but it didn’t make this guy laugh.

I have a feeling that some young kids may get a little bit of enjoyment out of seeing this incredibly bizarre cast of characters goof around for ninety minutes but even still, the humor here is so bad that it feels like it’s not even aimed towards toddlers – it’s aimed towards babies. And the story is not only boring to follow along with, but it’s also one of the most hilariously predictable I’ve seen in years.

But I have to give credit where credit is due and say that the animation style is once again great. Although the characters definitely could’ve been given more facial expressions throughout, there’s no denying that The Addams Family 2 is a well-animated film that must’ve taken countless hours to bring to life visually. Plus, the voice acting is strong once again, particularly from Oscar Isaac and Charlize Theron, who do a stellar job at bringing the characters of Gomez and Morticia Addams to life and make it their own.

Interestingly enough, though, Finn Wolfhard does not reprise his role as Pugsley here, who is replaced by Javon Walton. While I do prefer Wolfhard’s vocal performance from the first film more than Walton’s, it’s totally understandable why he didn’t partake in this project. I mean, can you really blame him?

All in all, The Addams Family 2 is creepy and kooky but not in any of the good ways.