The Addams Family (1991)

This film is very good.The late,great Raul Julia,Anjelica Huston,and Christopher Lloyd performed well.Even though there is a sequel this film is one of a kind.In My opinion this is a good dark comedy for everybody!

Fmovies: A good, nay great, movie version to the classic 60s series. Raul Julia is great as Gomez, as is Christopher Lloyd as Fester. The story is sound, pretty much better than the sequel. This is a comedy with slightly dark themes, but that doesn't mean the family can not enjoy it. Barry Sonnenfeld is a genius.

Extremely enjoyable update to the old t.v. show retains the eccentric spookiness and oddball humor of old, then proceeds to update the warped family familiarity with a rousing sense of decadent glee. The unexpectedly classy affair benefits greatly from the amazing casting that went into choosing all the Addams clan. What is nothing short of ensemble perfection, a sense of fun had by all on set during production remains undeniably infectious throughout, lending the amusing proceedings a distinct level of class.

Directed by easily digestible Barry Sonnenfeld, The Addams Family may be a bit intense for young kids but should stay a delight to all others. A wonderful, gentle perversity that hangs over the entire family might have pushed things a little too far to justify this family film to the younger set, but will stay surprisingly balanced with an outpouring of heart and morality,simply flipped inside out here, for comedic intent.

Wonderful set and prop design mixed with it's politely warped sense of humor would have been enough to make Addams Family the success it became, although it was the brilliant casting which continues to uphold a credibility for this film. Led by the outstanding (and sadly missed) Raul Julia, nearly every single family member wears their role with an unreal amount of dignity, making the fairly standard plot completely memorable.

The Addams Family fmovies. The Addams Family has had a death... Fester Addams. But lo and behold, their lawyer knows a man who resembles Fester and if he passes the impostor off, could gain access to the family vault, full of treasures untold. But can the fake Fester survive the family's maniacal games?

I don't have much experience with older incarnations of the Addams Family. So, I can't make an educated comparison. However, this film excels in every way: macabre, humorous and just plain eccentrically absurd. The casting is also amazing... Raul Julia in the performance of his career, and Christopher Lloyd in a very offebeat role even for him.

This was a breakout performance for Christina Ricci (playing Wednesday Addams). Sure, it possibly typecast her into weird roles ("Casper", "Sleepy Hollow", "Pumpkin") but this is, beyond a doubt, where she fits. She can do drama ("Monster", "Black Snake Moan") but will always be America's goth girl.

This film's dark humor is family appropriate -- cartoon violence, no nudity and marginal language. They simply do not make films like this anymore. Full credit must be given to the writer and director for bringing this family to life in a way that just cannot be repeated. Well, aside from the sequel.

For some reason, the 90's and early 2000's were a bit of a heyday when it came to contemporary adaptations of kitschy old TV-shows and stories. Everything from "The Flintstones" to "Charlie's Angels"... from "The Brady Bunch" to "Dudley Do-Right"... they all got remade, rebooted and re-imagined for then-modern audiences. But strangely, almost all of them were redone in typically either a self-satirical or self-deprecating way. Almost like the filmmakers were ashamed of the properties they were meant to be paying tribute to. But one particular film among them stands out for doing quite the opposite. For creating a respectful, honorable and faithful adaptation that kept changes to a necessary minimum while simply delivering a bigger and wilder version of what came before.

And oddly enough... that film was "The Addams Family", directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and released in 1991. Loosely inspired by the original comics of creator Charles Addams, while taking many cues and nods from the beloved 1960's sitcom, Sonnenfeld crafted a delicious and delightful comedic throwback that's filled to burst with classic Addams humor... with dark visual references, creepy double-entendres and plenty of cynical gallows humor gags. All the while, treating audiences to top-notch visuals and fantastic comedic turns from an all-star cast. "The Addams Family" might not be a perfect film... but it's darned entertaining and is a great riff on a classic piece of source material.

The very creepy and kooky Addams Family is getting along fine, though Gomez Addams (the late and great Raul Julia) still laments the disappearance of his brother Fester 25 years earlier. But things take an interesting turn when the Addams' lawyer Tully (Dan Hedaya) ends up in too deep with devious loan shark Abigail (Elizabeth Wilson)... Out of time, Tully hatches a plan to pay off his debt- To disguise Abigail's oafish son Gordon (Christopher Lloyd) as the long-lost Fester, of whom he is the spitting image, so that he can infiltrate the Addams clan and discover their secret vault, which holds an immense treasure. Gordon is welcomed "back" into the clan under the pretense of suffering amnesia. Though the more time he spends with the devilish family, the more he grows attached to them, and the more he doubts he'll be able to go through with the plan...

The peculiar thing about both this film and it's immediate follow-up "Addams Family Values" is that in many ways, they come across more as a series of clever but only tenuously connected vignettes than as singular, cohesive narratives... and yet, they both function quite well. The story lines are kept almost as an after-thought and only serve the basis of building and contriving funny situations to find our heroes in. And I think it actually works better this way given the nature of the material. The humor of the Addams Family was almost always about contrast and subversion of modern American ideals. And structuring the film in such a way to base much of the humor on almost random interactions with standard members of middle-class culture was a good way to go. It keeps the pacing light and refreshing, and only bogs itself down with the intricacies of plot and character development when needed.

Visually, the film is a delightfully Gothic masterwork of manic energy thanks to Sonnenfeld's breezy and slick cinematography and use of movement and flow. It's got an energy to it that's

The Addams family are far from being normal but they are rich and as such are their attorney's only chance of getting rich. Tully has debts up the yazoo and the only thing that stops his knees being violently replaced with fresh air is the fact that Abigail Craven's son Gordon looks eerily like Gomez's missing brother Fester. Shaving his head, Gordon enters the Addams home as Fester and tries to use his spare time to get into the family vault. However Gomez's joy at his return is gradually marred by a sneaking feeling that Fester is not himself – meanwhile Wednesday has no such doubts at all and is out to expose the impostor.

One of the few remakes that actually works, The Addams Family takes the Gothic humour of the TV series and makes it feel fresh and entertaining. The story is essentially a nail for us to hang our coats on so we can watch the gags come but even with this it is actually pretty good. Making one of the family a "new character" is a clever way of adding to the formula without having to bring in new characters to lead the film and it does work. Within this frame the twisted comedy is rather entertaining and, although rarely laugh out loud funny, it is still consistently amusing and enjoyable.

The cast are roundly good. Julia is a perfect Gomez and Huston is a great Morticia despite the latter being a fairly one-note affair. Lloyd is enjoyable in the lead and manages to do well to carry the "new character" aspect of Fester without disrupting the dynamic of the family. Ricci is excellent and the only downside is that the film doesn't give her enough to do; Workman is also good and has good chemistry with her. Hedaya, Wilson, Ivey and others are strong in support and generally do well to shore up the story.

Overall a kooky affair that is enjoyable in you are in the mood for its particular brand of dark silliness. The plot is more than enough to act as a frame, the jokes maybe don't hit many real highs but they do consistently get very close to the target and the fact that the actors all buy into the joke makes it that little bit better. An enjoyable remake that succeeds because it has the strength to stand as its own beast.