A tagline on one of the posters for “The Addams Family 2” has delightfully dark daughter Wednesday standing stonefaced next to the words “A sequel. How original.” Perhaps unconsciously, somebody chose that tagline not only because it captures the personality of the Addams’ daughter, but also because originality is one thing the recent, animated reincarnation of the Charles Addams cartoons is sorely lacking. The bottom line: the first film was a mediocre, mildly amusing time-passer, coasting by on our familiarity with the characters — and the sequel is more of the same.
From 1938 New Yorker cartoons to the 1964 classic series with John Astin and Carolyn Jones, from Broadway with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth to the ’90s live-action films with Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston, Gomez and Morticia are rapidly approaching their ninth decade doing the tango together — and with Tim Burton’s “Wednesday” in production for Netflix, the series seems to be as strong (and unkillable) as Lurch the butler. Compared to those productions, it seems as though these early 2020s CG cartoons won’t be mentioned anywhere near the top of the heap.
Comment