Title: The Addams Family

Year: 1991

Genre: Comedy | Fantasy |

Runtime: 99 min

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld

Starring: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd

6,9/10

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Con artists plan to fleece an eccentric family using an accomplice who claims to be their long-lost uncle.

A CLASSIC HALLOWEEN FILM

In the spirit of the newly released animation The Addams Family (2019), I decided to watch some of the previous live-action adventures, starting with this 1991 version.We the fans have witnessed this famously spooky and surely lovely family handling a lot of quirky situations throughout the years, but this is absolutely (or should be) one of the more emotional, when con-artists mother-and-son duo, Abigail and Gordon work together with Addams’s crooked lawyer Tully to trick money out of the family, by making they think that son Gordon is really Gomez Addams’s long lost brother Fester, but everything doesn’t go according to the plan.

The story handles the very essence of family values and reunification over alienation – Gordon who went into the house for the riches, at the end he stays for the Addams, which shows to be the right move when some memories sparks into him.

What I really like about the story is that they throw this clearly absurd cartoony family into this that is supposed to be a very emotional moment and they keep their goofy-ness – that is of course for us who know the show is because they love everything dark and scary, but the pure frustration on the antagonist’s faces when they are trying in every way to hurt the family but can’t is still the most joyful. The story makes you think about the underlying message while still laughing at all the chaos.

I liked the actors for this one also. They really made the cartoons come to life together with the make-up and scenery, results that really show the collaboration between the different departments of the production.

Raul Julia is my favorite in this film, with how he steals the scenes with his expressive and childish charm that shines through his character, all of which end up with you as the audience just wants to cheer him on. The rest of the cast is also very good in their work and together they have a chemistry that is believable and admirable, even though this is a “slap-stick” comedy-drama, there everything, which includes emotions go way over the top to blur the line between what’s real and what’s not.

At last, the production overall was decent. Nothing was bad in the terms of “ruining your viewing,” but it was some aspects of the film that took more of your attention like Raul’s acting or the special effects for the family’s pet hand “thing,” while for example, the camera work was not revolutionary, it led your view to the right direction, instead of making loops or dead drop tilts. This film’s quality and enjoyment show that this was a production of contributions and love, which you also can find in the Addams themselves, and I hope to find it in the newest one too.

I recommend this Halloween classic.