La Famille Addams : Les Retrouvailles

I was very frustrated by this video. I am a big fan of both Tim Curry and the Addams Family. I got the feeling that the people responsible for the video were not fans of either the cartoon nor the TV show. Tim Curry's Gomez was a sore loser quick to start fist fights and not that interested in his wife. The Gomez we know and love can be drawn to anger but usually resolves his arguments with swords or dueling pistols. And as for Morticia? Well, only mere seconds go by before Gomez is overcome with passion at the very site of her. In this outing we do not get a "Tish that's French!" or a quick run up Morticia's arms with kisses from her beloved husband. It is like watching Fred Flinstone but never hearing Yabba Dabba Do. Really, what's the point?

Poor old Raul Julia would be spinning in his grave like a rotisserie chicken if he could see what had become of the Addams Family series. Along with "Super Mario Bros.", this would undoubtedly be one of the most appalling major studio films ever to appear; made for video or not, there's no excuse to make movies which suck so utterly it's painful to watch them all the way through. When my former housemate borrowed this one evening I watched it like a rubbernecker gawks at a road accident. An adequate cast struggles desperately with an idiotic script playing characters made familiar by other people, far more convincingly: Nicole Fugere couldn't begin to come close to Christina Ricci's Wednesday if she lived to be a million. Only Tim Curry has any sparkle, but he could ham up the phone book and make it work. Turkey, with a capital "T"

A postman gets a bit of a surprise but manages to complete his task of delivering a parcel to the Addams family. At last, Gomez has received a copy of the Addams family history and sets about tracking down distant relatives. Making contact, they invite Grandpa and Grandma Addams to stay with them for a while and get acquainted. However minor things about their characters mark them out as being a bit different from the rest of the family and Gomez doubts their veracity and starts to try and track down more of them.

The opening credits to this film had not even finishing running and already it was clear that this was going to be a cheap and stupid film that totally fails to capture the enjoyably dark mood of the previous two remakes. In the opening scene we have a horribly mugging postman chased by cheap special effects while "wacky" music plays over the top of it all. This is a million miles from the Gothic dark humour of the two other films and it sets the standard for the rest of this shoddy laugh-free zone. The plot is pretty poor and uninspiring, providing only a very basic frame to keep things moving. Laughs are hard to come by and certainly those who enjoyed the two other films (I did) will find little to enjoy here.

The feeling of it all being a cheap knock-off is right up there on the screen. The flat cinematography and lighting cannot even compare to the darkness and atmosphere of the other two films and the direction is never better than average. The cast continue this trend. The replacement of the original actors is no surprise but it is impossible to forgive how poor they are. Curry is generally watchable but here he has just been told to impersonate Julia and his inability to make the role his own means he pales by way of comparison. Of course he looks like Brando when viewed alongside Hannah. Huston had great presence but Hannah just feels forced and in no way fits the role. Messing looks the part but Fugere can get nowhere near Ricci. Thomas is terrible as Fester and people like Begley and McCarthy should really have had something better to do with their time.

Overall a terrible film from start to finish. Well, actually, let me be fair – I don't know if it was terrible all the way to the end because I bailed out just after the halfway mark. It had all become too much for me to bare and I saw no reason to stick with it whatsoever. It looks cheap, has poor performances, a poor plot, cheap effects and generally feels shoddy – if the makers didn't bother to put the effort in then why should you?

Tim Curry, was the spitting image of Gomez Addams as renowned cartoonist Charles Addams portrayed him in his original cartoons, and had the experience in playing creepy guys. He was the perfect choice to play Gomez...had the directors, writers and editors allowed him to act.

The same goes for the rest of the cast, as well. Daryl Hannah is a renowned actress who might seem counter-intuitive in a "dark" role, but she played the character well. Carel Struycken was a veteran as Lurch. Nicole Fugere's performance as Wednesday was totally flat, but after seeing what this brilliant young actress has done to the role in Fox Family's The New Addams Family, it is difficult to believe that it's the same girl.

With the amazing cast for this film, it had the potential to be the greatest Addams Family experience ever. But the plot lacked cohesion, the delivery lacked polish, and the movie simply lacked quality. The computer graphics were unrealistic and purely gratuitous.

Curry's performance as Gomez was outstanding, but no one person could save this bomb. I was painfully disappointed at the amount of talent wasted in this film, and hope that some day Curry, Fugere, and the rest will reunite under a more competent director to make a real Addams Family movie.

I came into this with low expectations, understanding it was going to be aimed at children. They missed and hit some toddlers instead. It actually could have been quite a bit better (all the way up to a 5, maybe) if it had been a bit more subtle. As it is, the acting was WAY too grotesque. Uncle Fester's character is a joke. Not funny at all. The same script with a different director and some new actors might have worked.