★★½ (2.5/5)
The voice cast is clearly having fun. Isaac and Theron ooze dark romantic chemistry, and Moretz captures Wednesday’s deliciously morbid monotone. The animation style—all sharp angles, pinched silhouettes, and a color palette of purples, blacks, and grays—is visually inventive, especially during the family’s Rube Goldberg-esque morning routine. There are also a handful of genuinely clever gags, like Lurch’s running “You rang?” bit and Cousin Itt stealing the show with a flamenco dance.
This Addams Family isn’t truly creepy or kooky —they’re just nice goths with a hobby for torture. Wednesday’s arc, in particular, feels watered down: she wants to attend public school and make a friend, which is relatable but robs her of her deliciously sinister edge. The film neuters the family’s dark satire in favor of broad, kid-friendly comedy. Uncle Fester, for example, is reduced to a flatulent goofball.
The Addams Family (2019) is perfectly fine for a rainy afternoon with young children who’ve never met the characters before. It’s colorful, brisk (87 minutes), and never offensive. But for anyone who remembers the razor-sharp charm of the 1991 live-action classic or the original comics, this feels less like a celebration of the weird and more like a focus-grouped imitation. Snap your fingers once for nostalgia, but don’t expect to be haunted by it.
