“The Addams Family” (1991) Review
Written by Victor DeBonis
When I was about 5 or 6 years old, the Blockbuster store about 10 minutes away from our Houston childhood home was a beloved spot of ours to visit and re-visit. There weren’t any smaller video stores in the area for my family to visit for miles, so our family visited the store at least once or twice a month at the start of every weekend. While my brother raced towards the section with the “Godzilla” library, I would often flock to take home one of the Disney or other animated titles.
Sometimes, I would take a movie outside of that particular section.
And, one of the movies I would rent the most, one of the childhood films that I loved the most and still brings a dark smile to my face and was a terrific introduction to movies about outcast heroes who wore their weirdness as a badge with honor, was the 1991 movie “The Addams Family.”
In my younger years, I viewed horror as a plague at the time and wouldn’t have dreamed of picking up something with Freddy Kreuger or Jason Voorhees’ face at that time (Nor would have my parents allowed it). I was easily frightened by several things back in the day. So, one might initially scratch their head at what may have caught my eye about a family that adored the dark and terrifying.
Part of the answer lies heavily in Barry Sonnenfeld’s playful and cartoonish direction.
For a project that was initially offered to Tim Burton (He would’ve been another pitch-perfect fit for this material), Sonnenfeld shows a similar talent and love for bringing out the quirkiness and darkness from a world and story. Often, he will show medium shots of these characters talking with passion about death and the ominous or grinning with vicious glee at someone being electrocuted or listening to the sounds of foolish souls stumbling on a trap of theirs.
A favorite moment of mine occurs early on in which Wednesday Addams (played to wickedly vicious effect by a young Christina Ricci) aims an arrow at her brother, Pugsley, during one of their ill-advised experiments with each other, and the camera swoops like a spear towards the latter’s frightened face in one of my favorite uses of a type of zoom in.
Another scene delightfully seared in my mind ever since I was a kid includes the patriarch of the house, Gomez Addams (performed superbly by the late-great, much missed Raul Julia), playing with his train set to furiously vent his frustration about not being able to connect more with his newly found brother. We watch as Julia chomps and seethes on his cigar and voices aloud his comical anger, and shots will cut with the train chugging and whistling faster and faster. The train could be said to run on the fuel of this poor character’s rage in the moment.
Some other directors would choose to only settle for the insanity to focus only on the train. Sonnenfeld, on the other hand, works with the editor to place moments in between the train chugging quicker and quicker to its own destruction in which the rest of the family quietly voices their concern in titled angles about their concern about Father Addams. One shot of the train twisting to the side of a track shows Pugsley voicing aloud the name of the track that his Dad is on, essentially showing that he knows that the locomotive is moving faster and harder towards its own destruction and doom.
In the hands of Sonnenfeld and screenwriters Caroline Thompson and Larry Wilson, this live-action movie is a delightfully dark and hyperactive cartoon come to life, thanks in part to countless scenes in which the camera will playfully spin around or cut with playful energy or linger on long enough to focus on someone saying something ominous yet either hilarious or strangely moving and truthful. Sonnenfeld understands when to cut and shoot the comedic action at a brisk speed and when to allow the camera to simply and slowly move around long enough to absorb the subtle grandeur of an ancient ballroom or the tombstones of beloved relatives from a peaceful cemetery in the family’s backyard.
Telling a great story with these characters involves the right amount of subtle heart, dark comedy, and adoration for the horrific and strange.
Barry is more than up to the task.
It also helps that he guides some excellent performances from well-chosen actors. Raul Julia accelerates and vocally stamps his presence as aforementioned Gomez. His passion for both life and the dead delightfully echoes from his charismatic presence and voice, and he is pure fun to watch in practically every frame that he’s in, even during some of his scenes in which his character is taking his lumps. Julia moves his beloved sword with pride and skill, and he savors the moments of delightful darkness with a huge smile and strong glint of joy in his eyes. It’s a hard task to watch this performance covered in immense gusto and enthusiasm and not share a similar happiness.
Julia is simply awesome in this role, and, again, it’s such a painful loss to know how he was taken from this world far too soon.
Equally great to watch in her performance is Angelica Huston as his wife, Morticia Addams.
She is excellent at speaking in a quiet tone that delivers lines about dying and darkness with the utmost passion. As quiet as she speaks, Morticia’s concern or pride for a family member echoes clear as day through a strong softening in her voice or a small yet playful grin on her face. Huston masterfully shows plenty of emotion with an expression that appears small but reveals so much passion through the words she says and the power of her silent reactions towards others.
Christopher Lloyd plays aforementioned long-lost brother of Gomez, Fester, and is downright entertaining from one scene to another. His role is a particularly interesting case because, at the start of the movie, he mistakes himself for another person and doesn’t realize that he is, in fact, Fester Addams and has been away from the family for reasons kept under wraps until later in the movie. As a result, Lloyd doesn’t embrace the child-like enthusiasm of his character for some time. What is great is that he is still plenty of fun to watch. Lloyd comedically whispers frustration between his gritted teeth and widens his eyes with surprise at the sight of anything he finds perplexing or too horrific for him at this time.
In one scene in which he is trying to fake still having the love for the macabre of his family, Lloyd releases a wheezy laugh trying hard to replicate dark joy, and his terrific expression in such an awkward moment for him maintains great hilarity. Other times, he will cross his eyes or dance around in a goofy and jubilant fashion or playfully strive and fail to reach for something in midair.
Lloyd recognizes the importance of silliness and connection to his role as well as the meaningfulness of his connection to his character’s family, and he fulfills what is needed for his character with flying colors.
As aforementioned Wednesday Addams, Christina Ricci is marvelous. She bluntly delivers statements voicing her adoration for twisted humor without one ounce of caring towards what the meaner might think. Her grin widens with glee as cartoonishly vicious experiments unfold in front of her. Similar to the rest of her family, Ricci expresses an unabashed adoration for the deadly and dark, and her startling straightforward lines about death, dark glares, and playful wickedness factor wonderfully to the mix and recognize her as a great talent from an early age. Between her work in these movies and the highly underappreciated “Now and Then” I feel that Ricci deserves more recognition for her performances from her earlier years because, even from an earlier age, she always brought so much to a role.
Perhaps, the element I love the most about the movie is simply the love that the members of the Addams Family carry towards one another. They may occasionally play wicked experiments or pranks on one another or put each other literally in harm’s way, yet, for as vast as their obsession with death is, they somehow, someway know how far is too far and to never actually do something that immediately results in death. Similar to those from, say, an old-fashioned “Tom and Jerry” short, the family members experience moments that would most likely maim or permanently end someone’s life in reality, but they simply move onto the next scene prepared for what is next in front of them.
Putting those moments aside, though, the family members show an evident joy and appreciation for each other’s company at any given moment, whether it’s wandering through a graveyard of beloved relatives or savoring the dark beauty of a hard-pouring rain or attending a school play that is overly fluffed up just to see what their beloved kids bring to the show. Once Fester finds out more about who he truly is, he lets his love for wild experiments with his family become known very loud and clear, and he demonstrates more of the inner child within him. Wednesday and her brother, Pugsley (played great with an inadvertent foolishness and quietness by Jimmy Workman) may play pranks on each other, but they more or less go along with it because they know of the joy that it will bring to the other.
And, yes, let’s talk about the incredible romance between Gomez and Morticia. Their love is felt from every frame, and it is absolutely wonderful to witness. The two of them speak aloud similar thoughts of their adoration for death and darkness, and they look upon each other with nothing but extreme adoration and passion in their eyes. They dance together with skill and extreme joy as though there is nobody else in the world but just the two of them lost in their own deep romance.
There is even a scene in which Gomez openly speaks aloud about what his beloved wife means to him, and he doesn’t mind in the slightest if nobody else is hearing him.
Also, I remember when I was a child, and, when the movie reached a scene in which Morticia is put in great danger, my five or six year old self felt genuinely horrible for her not just because she was an oddball character who I was rooting for all the way, not just because I thought she looked pretty (and still do), but because I hated seeing an amazing love between her and Gomez being torn out by her possibly dying.
It was a special moment for me in the sense that it was one of the first experiences I had, early on, in which I was just beginning to realize the power of a movie to make me emotionally and personally invested for someone beyond myself, even if it was for a fictional character.
The chemistry between Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston is simply amazing, and, honestly, Gomez and Morticia are probably one of my favorite on-screen romantic couples, in general.
It is awesome to see two souls not only embrace their shared love for being weird and haunting without caring what others think but also spend every reasonable moment they can simply showing their happiness for their love for each other and their family and simply being there in each other’s company.
If I were to criticize anything about the movie, it is that the general plot can be a little confusing to follow. As a child and as a current-day adult, it doesn’t bother me as a whole because these actors are great and feel genuinely caring as a family, and the dark humor and slapstick is great. Yet, it is somewhat strange knowing about someone trying to get Fester to pose as a member of the Addams Family despite him actually being Fester Addams. I also do remember having to go back to the film more than twice to understand how Fester exactly was disconnected from the family.
The understanding of why everything happened as it did before the events of the movie play out is not too overly complicated, but it can be odd if I were to say the plot aloud to someone wanting to know what exactly happens.
Despite this, “The Addams Family” still stands strong as a great movie about family and embracing one’s strangeness and love for the dark. I’ve talked in previous essays about my introverted nature and the fact that I kept to myself and was quieter and not much like other kids my age. This partly came from my quieter nature and the ways in which my mindset made it harder for me to connect with others but, also, from my love for books, films, and writing that most other kids my age didn’t share. During certain moments, I could feel bad for how judgmental others acted towards me and when my mindset didn’t always result in me showing my best self and made it harder for me to fit in.
Watching “The Addams Family” was, in a sense, therapeutic to me as a child because it was (and still is) a living reminder of the importance of being weird. The family ignores those who reveal their disliking of them and defy those trying to tear their family apart because their love for each other and their tightly knit family is all they need.
In the sadder moments in which the family is split from each other, it’s evident that, despite their wicked demeanor, they are monsters with hearts and souls and consider the destruction of their bond as the ultimate sin. These outcasts find great strength and joy in how much they care about each other, partly because their love comes from those who adore the fact that they are dark and strange and care about each other all the more because of this. The powerful connection of this family can be seen in Wednesday and Pugsley as playful siblings or Fester towards his niece and nephew in his joy for looking after them or the grandmotherly witch in her enthusiasm (played remarkably by Judith Malina) and devotion to creating potions to possibly help her loved ones or Gomez and Fester in their renewed brotherly bond or, yes, Gomez and Morticia in their deep love for one another.
Some may turn their heads in fright and mean-spirited judgment at the sight of them or their surprising appreciation for the haunted, but it’s their loss for not appreciating those who are different from them. There is an argument to be made that those belittling others who are different or don’t meet every requirement to be “accepted” in their eyes are perhaps the truest and biggest monsters of all.
“The Addams Family” (and its sequel that I may possibly write about on another day) is a heartfelt ode to oddballs and outcasts, in general, and never loses its heart or its love for the dark and weird.
It was one of the first movies I saw that taught me that great joy and love comes from being different and accepting those who are also strange in their own ways.
If the outcast heroes from this awesome and very close family can embrace their strangeness and find their way through a startling world trying to do destruction to them and experience love of the most genuine and meaningful kind, so can we.
A