The Addams Family 2: Insufficiently ookie

The Addams Family 2 (2021) • View trailer

3.5 stars (out of five). Rated PG, for macabre and rude humor

Available via: Movie theaters and streaming services

By Derrick Bang • Published in The Davis Enterprise, 10.01.21

I sometimes wonder what Charles Addams would think, about how his macabre characters have been re-invented in the 21st century.

 

Morticia and Gomez, center, are horrified by what their son Pugsley has done to one
of our nation's natural wonders; daughter Wednesday is simply bored.

According to his official biographer, Linda H. Davis, he was “up and down” about the 1960s TV sitcom; he “enjoyed what it did for his earning power, but said the characters were ‘half as evil.’ ”

Bearing that in mind, regardless of his reaction to this New Age-style animation, he’d likely be unhappy over the way parents Gomez and Morticia — in particular — have been softened in this sequel. There’s scarcely an evil glance between them, let alone any sort of malevolent behavior. Indeed, Gomez (voiced by Oscar Isaac) spends the entire film fretting over the fact that daughter Wednesday (Chloë Grace Moretz) has adopted the aloofness of teenagehood, and prefers to be left alone.

 

Morticia (Charlize Theron) insists this is just a phase, but Gomez feels that desperate measures must be taken. His solution: a road trip across the United States, so the family can wreak all manner of havoc at — in sequence — Niagara Falls, Sleepy Hollow (an apt choice), Miami, San Antonio, the Alamo, the Grand Canyon, Death Valley and — of all places — Sausalito.

 

Ergo, poor Lurch (Conrad Vernon) must haul a mountain of luggage into the family’s haunted camper, and — with Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll) also crammed inside — they take off to see the country.

 

Wednesday’s younger brother Pugsley (Javon Walton) still loves to blow up stuff, and his expression — at least — often radiates wicked glee. And, yes; Wednesday’s arcane experiments, stylized weapons and booby traps often are at poor Pugsley’s expense; she loves to torture him, and (of course) he enjoys it.

 

Wednesday’s stoic somberness, in both animated expression and Moretz’s voice, is the film’s best running gag; she remains impassive no matter what manner of mayhem erupts around her (which she often generates).

 

But too many of this film’s antics fall into the category of conventional animated slapstick, which simply isn’t what the Addams Family is about. Sure, the sight gags are amusing — if rarely laugh-out-loud funny — but they belong more to characters such as Bugs Bunny or the Minions.

 

As I mentioned when discussing this film’s 2019 predecessor, the humor in Addams’ cartoons derived from what horrible thing was about to befall a family member, or unknowing outsiders; our imaginations filled in what would happen in the next few seconds, thereby making us collaborators in the punch line.

 

But today’s animated comedies don’t know from subtle, and this film’s scripters — Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit — are no different.

 

OK, fine; the aforementioned 1960s TV series also couldn’t replicate cartoon panel anticipation, so its humor derived from a different running gag: the contrast between the “ookie-spooky” Addams clan, and the horrified “ordinary folks” who crossed their path, for one comic reason or another.

 

The 2019 film followed that template, forcing a confrontation between the Addams family and a nearby squeaky-clean community dubbed Assimilation. That provided countless opportunities for humor and caustic social commentary.

 

Alas, Hernandez and Samit aren’t nearly that bold or creative; they also don’t play sufficiently on the Addams’ weirdness, alongside the folks encountered at all the aforementioned cities and tourist attractions. This storyline takes the Addams Family too far out of their element, which is a mistake.

 

A bit of dramatic tension is generated by a subplot involving scientist Cyrus Strange (Bill Hader), who desires to take Wednesday under his wing, in order to exploit her demented genius. To that end, he has cooked up a scheme suggesting that Wednesday isn’t really Gomez and Morticia’s daughter, but was switched with another infant in the hospital.

 

(To which I say, yeah, right … as if she could be anybody but an Addams. But we gotta roll with it.)

 

The family therefore is pursued, during the entire trip, by a smarmy lawyer (Wallace Shawn) and his hulking henchman, whose shambling appearance gives Lurch a run for his money.

 

Bette Midler has a small role as Gomez and Fester’s cackling Grandmama, and Snoop Dogg pops up in the third act as Cousin Itt (although you’d never know it, given the way Itt communicates).

 

The voice acting is uniformly solid, and the directors — Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon and Laura Brousseau — have maintained the character “look” that is faithful to Charles Addams’ vision. The Jeff Danna/Mychael Danna score is appropriately larkish.

 

I’m sure folks — and particularly children — will enjoy this film; it’s a skillfully crafted crowd-pleaser that doesn’t overstay its welcome, at 93 fast-paced minutes.

But it simply isn’t The Addams Family. Not any more.