The Addams Family 2 Parent Guide

The Addams family are back and this time they’re hitting the road! Concerned about the distance growing between himself and his daughter, Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz), family patriarch Gomez (Oscar Isaac) decides to take the whole family on a road trip for some bonding time. But someone seems to be following them, and they have their sights set on Wednesday…

I love the two Addams Family movies from the 90s. They were favorites of mine growing up, and I think a lot of people hold a certain fondness for them. Unfortunately, I don’t think this reboot captures any of the charm of its predecessors. I didn’t see the 2019 version of The Addams Familybecause it didn’t look appealing and my son was too young to clamor for it. I read a quick plot synopsis to get myself caught up, but I probably didn’t need to. This movie has little, if anything, to do with the previous installment, so you can just jump right in if you so choose.

If you have any knowledge of the franchise, you’ll know what to expect in terms of the level of violence. Wednesday is constantly trying to kill or injure her brother, Pugsley (Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton), while the world they inhabit is full of swords, potions, creatures, and dismembered body parts. This is all expected, and no one ever actually gets hurt. The issue I ran into was the elements of body horror that this sequel decides to include. Characters slowly transform into animals in grotesque and disturbing ways. I took my five-year-old to the theatre with me, and he actually turned away from the screen during these scenes and had to sit on my lap for a while to feel better. For context, he has seen most of the Star Wars and Marvel films and doesn’t even flinch at those. So, for him to be scared in this movie while regularly enjoying PG-13 ones is very telling. He wanted me to tell you all that he does not want to watch it again.

Scares aside, this film doesn’t have much going for it. It’s not terribly funny or interesting, nor does it have all that much of a message to it aside from the importance of family, which is a pretty vague concept. Nick Kroll as Uncle Fester is having a lot of fun, and he is a standout amongst the cast. Other than that, the film mostly just feels like a generic cash grab trying to take advantage of the Halloween season. There are so many better, and less scary, Halloween themed kid flicks out there, so there’s no reason to waste your time on this one.