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The Addams Family Offers Spooky, Kooky Fun for All
Creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky — the Addams Family have shown us a fun house mirror reflection of the typical American family since their cartoon debut in 1938. Created by Charles Addams for single-panel comics in The New Yorker, the Addams Family have been the center of multiple live-action and animated TV series and three feature films released between 1991 and 1998.
Now, THE ADDAMS FAMILY returns to theatres with a CG-animated comedy adventure inspired by the original cartoons. We’re overjoyed at the chance to reunite with the funniest black-hearted set of characters to grace movie and TV screens. Here’s everything we know about THE ADDAMS FAMILY.
Naturally, THE ADDAMS FAMILY is a Halloween movie, with a release date set for October 11.
The official THE ADDAMS FAMILY trailer shows how faithful the new movie is to the original drawings by Charles Addams. That wobbly nose on Uncle Fester, Gomez’s weird grin and Wednesday’s long oval face are all just as they were drawn by their original creator.
When Charles Addams began drawing this macabre family in cartoons almost 100 years ago, the characters didn’t have names — several family members didn’t even really have personalities. The Addams Family was born in a cartoon simply called “Vacuum Cleaner,” in which a clueless salesman tries to sell a state-of-the-art appliance to a prototype Morticia, despite the fact that he’s standing in the foyer of a very creepy house.
Then, the clan of strange but lovable characters got their own TV show, which ran from 1964 to 1966. Many of the character traits we know — Morticia’s icy reserve, Gomez’s maniacal eagerness, Wednesday’s scary maturity — started there. The 1991 movie directed by Barry Sonnenfeld cemented all of the things we love about the family, and now it’s time for the new movie to get a shot.
It’s Gomez versus greed, or something to that effect, as the Addams Family tries to deal with an arrogant and money-hungry reality TV host voiced by Allison Janney. At the same time, Morticia and Gomez are preparing their home for family visitors. By “preparing their home,” we assume there are traps to be laid, big spiders to put under beds, bathtubs to electrify — that sort of thing.
Here’s where things get good. Maybe we should have led with this, because the cast of THE ADDAMS FAMILY is frighteningly perfect. Charlize Theron voices Morticia Addams, and there might not be anyone else who can so effectively combine the pure malice and romantic fire that are in Morticia’s heart. Opposite Theron is Oscar Isaac, voicing the impulsive and strangely loving Gomez Addams.
And while it is difficult to step into a role that was so perfectly defined by Christina Ricci in the 1991 movie, Chloë Grace Moretz voices the only slightly murderous Wednesday Addams, daughter of Gomez and Morticia. Her brother, Pugsley, is played by Finn Wolfhard, while Nick Kroll gives voice to Gomez’s brother, Uncle Fester. Finally, Bette Midler — who has great experience playing a witch, thanks to HOCUS POCUS — is the voice of the witchy Grandmama.
Oh, and EIGHTH GRADE star Elsie Fisher plays Parker Needler, the daughter of Allison Janney’s character, Margaux Needler.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY directors Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan originally worked together on the film SAUSAGE PARTY, created by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The two co-produced as well as co-directed, and while this film has more of a family orientation than their R-rated comedy about lascivious food, this pair should be the ideal guides to lead us through the cobwebbed Addams home.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY will haunt theatres on October 11.
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