The Addams family - 1991

 

It’s nice but I’m not sure they really catch the old meaning of the Addams family, because having them smile and say they’re unhappy is just wrong and silly, the old family was the happiest around, they just had different… taste for what was nice and what wasn’t. Gomez was smart and generous, they were so romantic. They never hurt anyone.

But most of the movie is good, perfect Addams style, like the Halloween costumes and the swords and the roses… 

It’s just the ‘unhappy’ that is wrong.

It starts with people singing jolly Christmas carols and Lurch prepares to empty a cauldron of something boiling down on them while the Addams watch, then the opening credits start.

The family clock with the family characters. Gomez tells Thing (the Hand) that they’ve tried to contact his brother Fester for 25 years with no results. 

Wednesday shoots an arrow at an apple in her brother’s mouth, Morticia says smiling how unhappy she is, Gomez plays golf from his terrace, right against the neighbours windows.

A man who wants a donation has to sword fight him, and Gomez is very athletic. He has a secret place where he keeps the money he gives monthly, his books are weird too. 

This Mr Alford needs money because he has a big debt with Mrs Craven; her son Gordon looks tremendously like Fester, so they plan to shave his head and introduce Gordon in the house as Fester, sure that Gomez will tell him all about their treasure because he feels so guilty about the fight they once had before he disappeared.

There is a seance that night at the Addams house, to contact Fester. He shows up accompanied by a ‘doctor’ who tells them they recently found him and brought him home. 

Morticia sees Fester unpacking and is not at all surprised or suspicious that he has a crowbar, some dynamite, cyanide and who knows what else. 

Next morning, Gomez himself offers to take him to the vault and they go, down down the house and then on a gondola - Gomez sings O sole mio.

Gomez wants to show him old videos of their childhood, but Fester also finds the treasure.

We learn that their fight was because of Flora and Fauna, two girls and Gomez wooed them both because he was jealous of his brother.

The children already suspect that this Fester is not the real brother, and then the adults too when he shows he doesn’t remember things he should know and is clueless with some of their gadgets.

When Gordon tells his mother, she speaks to Gomez and Tish as a ‘doctor’ and puts their minds at ease.

Gordon plays with the children and they blow things up together, and he enjoys it a lot, but his mom forbids him to go to their play, he is to stay home and finally get to the money. Still, he does go. The Addams children play a fight and have lots of fake blood that covers the stage and everyone in the audience.

Mr Craven is caught by some plant that traps her like a mummy. Lurch frees her and since the week is up she wants to take Gordon away. The family has thrown a big ball as a farewell party. There’s the whole family, including cousin It. There’s a lot of them.

Wednesday hears Gordon and Mrs Craven talk and knows that he’s a fake.

When Gomez wants to dance the traditional Mamushka, Fester knows what to do, he knows all the moves.

Mr Alford’s wife Margaret is quite taken with cousin It, they have a lovely time together.

Mr Alford plans with their neighbour, the judge, to evict Gomez’s family because everything belongs to the eldest Addams and it’s Fester. Now that they are the masters of the house, Mr Alford looks for the money with Mrs Craven and Gordon, but he’s not happy at all. 

Morticia tries to find a job but she makes the children cry with her version of the fairy tales.

She goes to speak with Fester but they take her and torture her for the secret of the vault.

Thing informs Gomez with morse code and he runs to save her, but Mrs Craven has a gun…

Gordon does not like this at all, and eventually she complains that she should have left him where she found him; now Fester helps them, he takes a Hurricane book and has them flyout the window, straight into two coffins with Wednesday and Pugsley ready to bury them: “are they dead?” - “does it matter?”.

Seven months later, they celebrate Halloween. Pugsley’s costume is to be like Fester. Margaret is in a pink, fairy outfit and she goes out with cousin It. Wednesday looks just like every other day because she’s “a homicidal maniac. They look just like everyone else”.

Fester now has all his memories back after he was hit by a lightning during that hurricane. He is indeed Fester. Mrs Craven found him 25 years ago with amnesia.

They’re all happy together and Tish tells Gomez she’s pregnant by showing him that she’s knitting for the baby (the thinks the baby will have three legs? Neither Pugsley or Wednesday have three legs…)

Gomez - Raul Julia

Morticia - Anjelica Huston

Uncle Fester - Christopher Lloyd

Tully Alford - Dan Hedaya

Abigail Craven - Elizabeth Wilson

Lurch - Carel Struycken

Margaret Alford - Dana Ivey

Wednesday - Christina Ricci

ITA la famiglia Addams