Directed By Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon, and Laura Brousseau

Starring – Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz

The Plot – In this all new movie we find Morticia (Theron) and Gomez (Isaac) 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 (Moretz), Pugsley (Javon Walton), Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll) 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 (Snoop Dogg), as well as many new kooky characters. What could possibly go wrong?

Rated PG for macabre and rude humor, violence and adult language

THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2 | Official Trailer | MGM – YouTube

POSITIVES

– Luscious animation. It’s tragic that animation this tremendously layered and vibrantly coated is wasted on a film as creatively dreadful as this uninspired sequel. I say that because the level of detail to its appeal is not only serves a noteworthy improvement to an already gorgeous original movie, but it’s also one that creates a spell-binding consistency that seamlessly accommodates the gimmick of its screenplay, fruitfully. The landscapes in tow, as well as their three-dimensional influence, give the characters plenty of palpable scenery to chew on, with regards to the sight gags of their material, and the expressive depth within the character designs enhance the various deliveries and expressions that bring the unorthodox nature of these personalities to life, with no shortage of bug-eyed beaming to their balancing. It paints at least a beautiful canvas that didn’t go unnoticed, and conjures up much of the big screen emphasis needed to comprehend just why this should be shown on the silver screen in the first place.

– Spirited performances. This is quite the energetic ensemble that are continuously making their presences felt in some transitionally eccentric vocal acting. With the exception of Moretz, whose range remains as reserved as it does in her movies, yet still handing in gratifying work, the rest of her co-stars are unrecognizable in their conjuring’s, especially that of Isaac, Nick Kroll, or the newly acquired Bill Hader as the movie’s primary antagonist. Hader revels in the maniacal mayhem of a character as devilishly delightful as animated films can imagine, and with a range of depth for accents that started on Saturday Night Live, and persisted through some reputable animated work, serves as the ideal casting inside the mind of a mad scientist. Another sturdy addition is the great Wallace Shawn as the nagging nuisance to the Addams’ cross country journey, providing as many neurocies and temporary conflicts that simultaneously feed into the overwhelming comedic layering of the production.

– Fluid pacing. Even with as many problems as this script has for creating building blocks of adversity, timing simply isn’t one of them. At a brief 87 minutes of allowance, the movie never overstays its welcome, nor underwrites with moments of downtime along the way, creating a consistency that begins quickly from the opening act, and never deviates the rest of the way. Because of such, there was never a moment when I was bored or checking my watch, which is a complimentary testament considering the comedy is so ineffective throughout, yet never losing my interest in the semblance of the narrative, that constantly kept beating. This establishes that the creators know exactly the kind of monster, both literally and figuratively, that they possess, all the while feeding into the diminishing attention span of its dominating audience demographic that can remain focused on the influence of the aforementioned sparkling animation.

NEGATIVES

– Heartless shell. As to where the original film managed to hang onto much of the personality and essence of the Addams folklore, this sequel very much feels like another movie that the Addams are incorporated into. This goes far beyond the elements of the plot, with the Addams going on a long distance journey to see much of the world. The problem is instead with the uncharacteristic evidence of the titular family, primarily in their unhealthy interaction with one another, involving lying and manipulation among other things. Addams Family films are meant to colorfully illustrate the social commentary of the unhealthiness outside of this deranged family, but instead “The Addams Family 2” proves the problems are very much generic, resulting in mean-spirited hijinks that painfully make us side with and support those unrelated to their cause.

– Flat material. Typically, Addams Family films engage with dark humor and twisted ideals that bring to life the unorthodox nature of their personalities, but the material stringed together here with three directors and three writers feels like a hodgepodge of lukewarm ideas, where nothing ever rarely meets its target. Instead of the smart satire involving another second to fully sell them, the gags instead feel as conventional and desperate as any other animated kids movie, especially with little to no emphasis on the older demographic forced to endure the occasion. Sure, the puns are there, which the Addams used to cleverly twist for their own deranged self-deprecation, but the PG emphasis behind them limit the expansion of their appeal, feeling like a watered down safety net for anything that is remotely provocative for impressionable minds.

– Numbingly-bad soundtrack. Desperation leaks its way over to the corresponding music for the film, which once again feel like a group of heavy-handed selections to sell records, instead of enhancing a film. Part of the obviousness stems from Snoop Dogg selections, since he does voice Cousin Itt in this film, but the bigger problem is with the awkwardness of the scene-halting deliveries they’re prescribed with, creating a boisterously frustrating enveloping to coerce audiences into thinking that they’re actually having a good time. The tracks themselves are purely topical, like House of Pain’s “Jump Around” when Pugsley is quite literally doing that while under Wednesday’s spell, and the supportive musical score lacks any of the definition or environmental sounds of the previous movie, which provided a unique identity to the movie’s musical accompaniment, instead abandoning here for funky floundering that even middle aged women can get down to.

– Painful dialogue. If you require any additional proof that this film feels cobbled together as rushed and sloppily as a cash grab can profit from, turn to the lingo distributed to the lines of interaction that feel like they’re giftwrapped by an elderly who heard and wrote down lines while sitting in on a subway train with youths. Gift of gab producing moments like Wednesday saying “Squad goals” during a sitdown meeting with her family, or Gomez stating “We’re like Ghouls gone wild” during a beach stop, feel as shoe-horned and replicated as the famous Steve Buscemi ballcap-wearing meme, where he tries to be as cool and hip as the environmental kids. It’s everything wrong with contemporary kids films, and is made all the worse for the shamelessly forceful way it revels in it with such pandering glee, creating no shortage of audible annoyance for my interpretation.

– Supernatural convenience. Not sure when exactly Wednesday Addams gained the capabilities of mind-reading hypnosis, but she uses it exactly once throughout the duration of the film, to put one over on a bleach blonde bimbo who the film tries to illustrate as being more rude and shallow than this interpretation of Wednesday herself. Unfortunately, while this gimmick is strange, considering it’s the first and only time we hear about it throughout two films, it isn’t used for moments that could’ve kept it from creating one of the biggest plot holes in cinema for 2021. Considering this whole film revolves around Wednesday’s search for the truth with regards to who her real family actually is, these powers could’ve easily read the mind of the obviously lying scientist, which would’ve halted this film dead in its tracks. Speaking of which, you know what else would’ve halted this plot? A DNA test, which could easily be found in any city along the way, during this road trip. But because these producers view kids as idiots, we’re forced to go along with this pointless charade. Good times.

– Shameless familiarity. Instead of this feeling like a legitimate Addams Family sequel, full of subplots catering purely to these unique characters and situations, it instead feels like reheated leftovers of every kids movie seen from the last fifteen years. Road trip sequel? CHECK, Ensemble dance number concluding the film? CHECK, Dismayed family member who seeks the truth about finding a place where she belongs? CHECK. It’s fine enough that a sequel tries to make itself diversely the opposite of an original film, in fact, I encourage it, but this doesn’t ever feel like a sequel to that original harmless film, banking in on conventional over inspirational in a way that directly underscores the message of the film, while the Addams themselves continuously try to pass them off as people they’re not. It’s like each screenwriter was given the homework of sifting through the genre in search of things they all have in common, which makes “The Addams Family 2” not only a disappointing sequel, but also a predictable one that is judged on the traits of characters and stories that happened before it.

My Grade: 3/10 or F+