“THE ADDAMS FAMILY” — 3 stars — Voices of Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard; PG (macabre and suggestive humor, and some action); in general release; running time: 87 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Whether you’re a fan of the original 1960s TV series, or just in search of some macabre family-friendly entertainment for Halloween, “The Addams Family” has enough going for it to justify a pensive peek into its foreboding basement.
In Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan’s animated film, the offbeat Addams family has emerged in all of its ghoulish glory to greet the “normal” world after a 13-year exile. All the key figures from the TV show are present: Gleeful patriarch Gomez (voiced by Oscar Isaac) leads the household alongside his ghoulishly graceful wife Morticia (Charlize Theron). Death-obsessed daughter Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz) and pyromaniac son Pugsley (Finn Wolfhard) represent the upcoming generation, while Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll), butler Lurch (Vernon) and the disembodied hand known as Thing flesh out the principal cast.
Most of the film’s 87-minute running time is spent creating the appropriately creepy atmosphere. A quick prologue sees Gomez and Morticia fleeing angry villagers on their wedding day, and eventually setting up shop in an abandoned asylum in New Jersey (after hitting their future butler — an escaped mental patient — on their way there).
Thirteen years later, the family has mostly kept to itself, hoping to protect the children and keep an unaccepting and fearful modern world at bay. But in the nearby town of Assimilation, a TV personality named Margaux Needler (Allison Janney) has decided to feature the Addams’ casa on her home remodeling show. Beneath the neighborly sheen lies a financial motive: Margaux has some homes to sell in Assimilation, and the unsightly spectacle on the hill is killing her pristine suburban vibe.
Back at the Addams house, the kids are getting restless. Pugsley’s upcoming birthday requires him to perform a rite of passage called the “Sabre Mazurka” for his entire extended family, and when Wednesday meets Margaux’s daughter Parker (Elsie Fisher), she decides to venture out to the local middle school, with darkly comic results.
“The Addams Family” really shines in the little things, the blink-and-you-miss-them details that will bring smiles to fans of the TV show. Morticia uses human ashes for her eye shadow, and Wednesday’s pigtails are braided into tiny nooses. The dialogue is packed with dark puns, and the endlessly creepy atmosphere is utterly charming.
The story is where “The Addams Family” falls a little short. The plot threads are a little thin and better suited for the old half-hour TV episodes than the meaty requirements of a full-length feature. The juxtaposition of a gothic house on the hill with a neighboring pastel suburban paradise evokes Tim Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands,” which shared a similar “different is good” message with a lot more subtlety and wit. Let’s just say that naming the town “Assimilation” is far from the only on-the-nose reference in the movie.
It’s more creepy and macabre than your usual family flick, but “The Addams Family” is a lot more fun than frightening. It isn’t the best incarnation of Halloween’s First Family, but it still makes for a kooky October option.
Rating explained: “The Addams Family” is rated PG for comic violence and Halloween-themed jokes and scares, such as a joke about Morticia using a Ouija board to make a long-distance phone call to her dead parents.