The most underrated version of The Addams Family deserves another shot

There have been a lot of takes on the Addams Family. The characters originated in 1938 in a series of one-panel New Yorker cartoons by Charles Addams. Then came the original TV series, which ran from 1964 to 1966, followed by the first animated versions of the characters in 1973. The 1990s brought about an Addams Family renaissance with two theatrical films, another cartoon show, a direct-to-video movie, and a sitcom called The New Addams Family. That now-forgotten sitcom ended in 1999 and, perhaps due to a bit of Addams Family over-saturation, it was quite a while before we heard from them again in a big-budget Hollywood production.

A full 20 years later, in 2019, we got the animated film The Addams Family followed by its 2021 sequel The Addams Family 2. While not the best realizations of the franchise, there were a few particularly great things about it, including the art style, the utterly perfect casting of Gomez Addams, and one other element that the much loved Wednesdayseries doesn’t seem to understand. All of which are good reasons to rewatch the films before they leave Netflix on May 19.

Both The Addams Family and The Addams Family 2 were directed by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan. In the first movie, the Addams Family has been living for years in isolation in an abandoned asylum on a spooky hill in New Jersey, but their eccentric, macabre way of life becomes threatened when a new housing development goes up nearby. Soon, the Addamses are being viewed as monsters by the very normal townspeople. The second film shows the family going on a road trip, where they freak people out with their strange behavior at every stop along the way.

Both films were financially successful, but neither impressed critics, with the largest complaint being that the dark humor the Addams Family is known for was too watered down for kids. While there was nothing approaching the Addams Family Values subplot where Wednesday and Pugsley conspire to kill their baby brother, there were some fun gags like Uncle Fester greeting his neighbors with a trenchcoat full of bats. The Addams Family 2 also had a fun sequence where the family visits the beach. But yes, overall, the movie isn’t quite as sharp or dark as previous installments, though it did shine elsewhere.

First of all, these two movies represent the most faithful animated interpretations of Charles Addams’ original comics from a visual perspective. Addams’ artwork featured a squat, ugly Gomez, a Wednesday so simply drawn she’s almost ghostlike, and a Morticia who is far more gaunt than glamorous. Rather than rework Addams’ style for a mainstream audience, these movies put Addams’ character models straight onto the screen.

This had only ever really been tried once before, in the short-lived 1973 animated series, but that series was very cheaply animated, so it’s hardly a great showcase for Addams' style. Also the color choices in that show were a bit too bold, whereas the 2019 versions of the characters are nearly as black-and-white as Addams’ comics. Meanwhile, the 1990s cartoon, which was of better quality, really did its own thing design-wise, paying little mind to Addams’ art.

Image: Charles Addams/The New Yorker

The 2019 and 2021 animated films also have a truly excellent Gomez Addams in Oscar Isaac. While everyone else was serviceable in their roles, Isaac found a way to blend Raul Julia’s debonair romantic from the 1990s films and the kookier, more manic energy of John Astin’s Gomez from the 1960s TV show. Those two versions have long been considered the very best takes on the character, but I think Isaac is up there too, so much so that I really think he’d make a wonderful live-action version of the character as well.

Finally, my last note is as much a criticism of Wednesday as it is a compliment to the animated films.

Ever since the Charles Addams comics, the whole point of the Addams Family is that they’re weird and that normal people don’t get them. Yet the premise of Wednesday is that she attends a school full of other weirdos. While I’m sure there’s an argument to be made that this is some sort of clever reinterpretation, I’d argue that you’re not really doing the Addams Family if the Addamses are the most normal people on the show.

And while the animated Addams Family movies — despite great art and a great Gomez — may not be all that great, they at least get that the Addamses are supposed to be the weird ones.