Like the cartoons, it isn't so much what the Addams folks actually do that's funny as what we see them ABOUT to do.
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Old TV shows have not often fared well on the big screen. Even "Star Trek" had trouble in its first outing. Some adaptations were amiable enough, if forgettable: "Maverick," "The Mod Squad," "My Favorite Martian"; some were inept: "McHale's Navy," "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Car 54, Where Are You?"; a few were bloated: "Wild, Wild West"; while still others were downright infuriating: "Mission Impossible," "The Avengers."
Fortunately, the eccentric creations of cartoonist Charles Addams made a seamless translation to movie theaters, first with "The Addams Family" in 1991 and then with an even funnier sequel, "Addams Family Values," in 1993. Performed by a cast that matched or bettered the TV crew, bizarrely humorous scripts, and strong production values, the films make welcome additions to the burgeoning world of comedy on DVD.
When I first heard that the late Raul Julia would be playing the head of the family, Gomez Adams, the old John Aston part, I was apprehensive. Raul Julia? Wasn't he too suave, too sophisticated, too debonair, and too handsome for the role? Turns out, he was ideal. In addition to his serious dramatic side, he was a terrific comic actor whose unbridled energy in the Gomez role never falters, no matter how wacky the situation.
Playing his wife, Morticia, Anjelica Huston is Julia's perfect foil, maintaining an unruffled composure at all times. Together, they are the perfect embodiments of both the cartoon series and the old television show characters. What's more, the supporting cast is equally good: Christina Ricci practically steals both movies as Wednesday Addams, the sweet but not-so-innocent daughter whose deadpan delivery is a joy. Christopher Lloyd plays Uncle Fester, the subject of most of the mischief in both films; and Pugsley, Lurch, Cousin It, Thing, Grand Mamma and the rest are all on hand as well.
Assuredly, the morbid Addams humor is an acquired taste. Who else but an Addams would play "Wake the Dead" in a graveyard or use "Grey's Anatomy" as a cookbook? Like the cartoons, it isn't so much what the Addams folks actually do that's funny as what we see them ABOUT to do. In the introductory scene of the first movie, for instance, a group of carolers are merrily singing their hearts out in front of the Addams residence while the camera pans slowly upward to a shot of the family above, gleefully standing on the roof, ready to pour boiling oil on the revelers below. They're not demented, just different. It's their wild sense of nonconformity that makes the Addams family perennial favorites of just about everybody who has ever wanted to tweak the nose of conventionality or authority. They are macabre, modern-day equivalents of the Marx Brothers.
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