Karry
Best movie of this year hands down!
BeSummers
Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.
MaximumMadness
Two years after successfully returning to the focus of pop-culture with a thrilling and amusing big-budget Hollywood remake, that delightfully creepy and kooky family we all know, love and fear is back in "Addams Family Values", once again directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Inspired by the delightfully dreary comics of series creator Charles Addams while taking plenty of inspiration from the classic 60's sitcom, I was a pretty big fan of the first "Addams Family" film. It was the rare revival that paid loving respect to what came before without feeling the need to satirize or talk down to the source material. But for my money, this 1993 follow-up is in every way a superior sequel. It raises the stakes. It piles on the laughs. And it finds the perfect balance between story and humor.The Addams Family gets a little bigger and crazier when Morticia (Anjelica Huston) gives birth to their newest addition- a bouncy baby boy named "Pubert." However, this doesn't sit well with siblings Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman), whom see their new brother as competition. In order to quell the growing rivalry between the children, Morticia and Gomez (Raul Julia) hire on a new nanny to watch after them. However, they are unaware that the attractive Debbie (Joan Cusack) is actually a serial killer known as the "Black Widow", with a penchant for marrying older men and then bumping them off for their money. And she has her sights set on Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) and his enormous wealth!The thing I really admire about this film is how well it balances the ratio of story to humor and how the structure of the film is built for maximum effectiveness. A great part of the fun of the "Addams Family" concept is the fact that most of the humor comes from the contrast between their inherent insanity and typical middle and upper-class values. It's an idea built around subversion. And I think this film handles that very well by wisely dividing the story into three sort- of episodic adventures that place members of the clan in different situations. Those of course being the archetypal rivalry between siblings, a subsequent subplot involving Wednesday and Pugsley being sent to summer camp, and the overarching storyline about the deadly romance that forms between Debbie and Fester and how it affects the family as a whole. It creates opportunities to organically unleash the Addams' onto the world for comedic effect, and I found it functioned quite a bit better than the loose narrative of the original.Once again, the wild and wonderful ensemble cast shines through as the highlight of the film, and I like the fact that the movie shifts focus onto members of the family who weren't featured quite as heavily in the previous outing. The standouts here being the delightfully deadpan Ricci and amusingly mindless Workman as Wednesday and Pugsley, whose plot lines make up a good bulk of the film. There's a definite theme of youth in the movie, so it makes sense for the children to take the center stage, and both do very well with the material. Lloyd is as fun as ever as the hapless Fester, and it's fun seeing him try to cope with his general cluelessness when it comes to women and romance. Julia and Huston are as deliciously hammy as ever as the psychotic lovers that are Gomez and Morticia. And I really loved Cusack in her scene- stealing performance as the devious diva that is Debbie. Bonus points go to Carole Kane whom takes over the role of "Grandmama" with gusto and a young David Krumholtz as the neurotic Joel- a fellow camper who develops feelings for Wednesday.Also a step-up is the wondrous production assembled by Sonnenfeld and the twisted and hilarious script by playwright Paul Rudnick. The film is an aesthetic powerhouse with sharp, keen visuals and a brutally manic pace that lends itself exceptionally well to the material. Sonnenfeld injects such a sheer, voracious sense of spunk and fun into his visual storytelling that it's just infectious. You can't help but feel completely satisfied by the time the credits roll, and you feel like everyone put their hearts into the film. And the script is just fantastic. Almost every other line is punctuated by a clever gag, the pitch-black humor is out full force, and there's some really smart satire injected beneath the surface. You really couldn't ask for more out of an Addams story.Were I to point out any flaws, it's the fact that the movie makes one critical error that I can't help but notice. That being that once again, and despite the rampant creativity otherwise... the film is essentially built around a plot involving Fester and an attempt at extorting money from the family. Fester's plot-line is basically exactly the same as the first movie. Everything else is fresh and new... So why just regurgitate an almost identical plot-thread?Thankfully the film's grand humor, outstanding performances and wild visuals more than make up for this admittedly major flaw. 1991's "The Addams Family" was a solid and satisfying revisit to a cherished old property. But 1993's "Addams Family Values" sees that concept and one-ups it by improving over what came before in virtually every way. It's tighter. It's funnier. It's crazier. And indeed... it's kookier. This is one family reunion you'll want to revisit over and over again. And so, I give "Addams Family Values" an excellent 9 out of 10! A superior sequel in every way.
michaelwood-96659
I'm a big fan of Barry Sonnenfeld's Addams Family films. They're a little light on story, and this one has the same loose method of tying up this story as the first one did. But the macabre humour is spot on yet again here. Huge credit to Sonnenfeld for keeping the film PG yet still giving it a slightly twisted, dark feel.I think they'd struggle to find better actors for these characters. The whole cast is fairly well on point, with Christopher Lloyd and Christina Ricci the stand outs. This is interesting given how brazenly different they are. Lloyd really goes into the role, and shifts his face in all kinds of weird directions to bolster his portrayal of the awkward humpback, Fester. Ricci keeps her face straight the whole time, adopting Wednesday's morbid cynicism and delivering each line in near monotone, yet timing the delivery so well that it brings a laugh almost the whole way through.It lacks focus and there probably didn't need to be two main story lines when the plot writing is the weaker element in the film. But it's funny enough and directed with enough macabre flair to make this, as well as its predecessor, a very entertaining film. Also worth noting that at 90 minutes, it breezes along beautifully.7/10
sol-
Envious of their parents' newborn baby, the Addams children repeatedly try to kill it before being sent away to summer camp by their scheming new nanny in this sequel to 'The Addams Family'. Often cited as superior to its predecessor, 'Addams Family Values' benefits from delving into the plot quicker with less time spent introducing the characters. What really raises the quality of the film though is the focus on Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams, who receives the most screen time here after Christopher Lloyd. Her deadpan line delivery and emotionless facial reactions are better than ever, and a bit where she slowly forces a smile after being forced to watch Disney films is a real testament to her talents. Another big plus is Joan Cusack's ever-so-slightly demented performance as the nanny who seduces Lloyd for his money; her repeated failed attempts to kill him are even funnier than the kids failing to kill the baby early on. Witty and funny as the script often is though, the screenplay is not airtight; the transition between the film being about the children trying to kill the baby and the nanny trying to fleece their uncle is quite jarring. The experiences of Ricci at camp - where she encounters the same Girl Scout who tried to sell her cookies in the first film - are also far more interesting than Lloyd and Cusack having it out. This is an enjoyable film through and through, however, with all concerned really in top form. Whether this is truly superior to the first film may be debatable, but it is certainly a very good effort as far as sequels tend to go.
SnoopyStyle
The Addams Family is back. Morticia (Anjelica Huston) and Gomez Addams (Raul Julia) have a new baby. Wednesday (Christina Ricci) and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) are playing a little too dangerously with the baby. They hire Debby Jellinsky (Joan Cusack) as the new nanny. Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) is immediately enchanted. Only she's actually a serial killer called 'The Black Widow'. Wednesday gets suspicious of her. Debby tricks the family into sending the kids to summer camp. Meanwhile she searches for hidden family treasure and tries to hook her next victim Fester.The kids playing is hilarious. Christina Ricci is especially funny with her dead pan humor. Sending them to summer camp is a stroke of genius. They are fish out of water and that's why it's even funnier. The adults are slightly less funny. They don't have the same fish out of water storyline. It's not a big problem. They're still funny.
