Paul Kydd
Available on Blu-ray Disc (Region B)USA 1991 English (Colour); Comedy/Horror/Fantasy (Paramount); 100 minutes (PG certificate)Crew includes: Barry Sonnenfeld (Director); Caroline Thompson, Larry Wilson (Screenwriters, from Characters created by Charles Addams); Scott Rudin (Producer); Graham Place (Executive Producer); Owen Roizman (Cinematographer); Richard MacDonald (Production Designer); Dede Allen, Jim Miller (Editors); Marc Shaiman (Composer)Cast includes: Anjelica Huston (Morticia Addams), Raul Julia (Gomez Addams), Christopher Lloyd (Uncle Fester Addams), Dan Hedaya (Tully Alford), Elizabeth Wilson (Abigail Craven), Judith Malina (Grandmama), Carel Struycken (Lurch), Dana Ivey (Margaret Alford), Paul Benedict (Judge Womack), Christina Ricci (Wednesday Addams), Jimmy Workman (Pugsley Addams), Christopher Hart (Thing)Academy Award nomination: Costume Design (Ruth Myers); BAFTA nominations (2): Production Design, Makeup; Golden Globe nomination: Actress - Musical/Comedy (Huston)"Weird is relative."A suitably freakish impostor (Lloyd) - or is he? - infiltrates the spooky residence of a ghoulish yet loving family, headed by an elegant, vampirish matriarch (Huston) and her debonair, devoted husband (Julia), in an attempt to get his hands on their substantial wealth.Spot-on costumes, sets and casting (precocious little horror Ricci is particularly memorable) are highlights of an extremely successful comic strip adaptation, but not for Orion Pictures, whose fiscal woes compelled them to sell off their anticipated triumph to a no doubt grateful Paramount.A just-as-enjoyable sequel, likewise helmed by noted cinematographer Sonnenfeld (this big-budget effort, though an exhausting experience, opportunely being his directorial début), appeared two years later.Blu-ray Extras: Trailers. *½ (3/10)
John Brooks
Well this film could've been better, then again could certainly have been worse.The whole point of the exercise here is to somehow make sure the plot holds up well enough for a full-length picture, all the while providing the adequate humor, enough laughs along the way that it's entertaining as the plot alone doesn't supply strong enough incentive.So it's all of the anti-clockwise mechanisms on all levels of a seemingly dysfunctional, but actually somehow functional loving family, that offers more warmth and love than the more casual, conventional household.It does well enough with the whole Uncle Fester shenanigans, which ultimately makes just about enough sense, as a moral.7/10
Python Hyena
The Addams Family (1991): Dir: Barry Sonnenfeld / Cast: Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, Elizabeth Wilson, Dan Hedaya: Big screen adaptation of the classic TV show about the monstrous family that are totally outside traditional values. Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston look the parts of Gomez and Morticia, the head couple with Pugsley and Wednesday as their two demented children who have the disturbing past time of finding methods of execution. Christopher Lloyd plays Uncle Fester who went missing twenty-five years ago. He turns up with a couple of the most forgettable villains the screenwriter can conjure up. Elizabeth Wilson poises as a psychiatrist claiming that Fester was lost in the Bermuda Triangle and lost his memory. He is told that he is Gordon who she brought him in. Lloyd as Fester is sent to possess the Addams fortune but predictable elements occurs such as his growing close to the family. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld who presents the film's look and the special effects and art direction hold appeal with a black and white mostly presentation. While the Addams cast play their roles with appeal but the villains played by Wilson and Dan Hedaya have less personality than the severed life hand, Thing. This is not a great film but for those who loved the TV show, they will enjoy the recreation and bizarre nature of this odd family. Score: 7 ½ / 10
