In ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES, Barry Sonnenfeld has performed the remarkable feat of making a sequel even more entertaining than its predecessor. The charmingly creepy Addams family (based on characters originally created by the morbid Charles Addams) have two new additions, mustachioed baby Pubert and sunny nanny Debbie Jellinsky. While Debbie (wonderfully played by Joan Cusack) charms the adults of the family, particularly Uncle Fester, the children discover that she is actually a serial killer called the Black Widow. The children are soon shipped off to summer camp as part of nanny dearest’s diabolical plot. It’s at Camp Chippewa that some of the funniest scenes occur, particularly one in which Wednesday tells genuinely terrifying ghost stories to the other campers and another that features both Addams children being sent the Harmony Hut as punishment for trying to escape. Sonnenfeld and production designer Ken Adams (no relation) make sure that each minute is a pleasure to look at by creating a feast of dark visions and macabre sight gags. ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES will be most enjoyed by those with a taste for flip gallows humor.
cast
Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams Christopher Lloyd as Uncle Fester Addams Joan Cusack as Debbie Jellinsky Raul Julia as Gomez Addams
If you didn't have enough of them two years ago, the Addams family is back with a movie that does little more than rehash the same "spirit" and recycle the same jokes. A few sparkling performances and funny moments save this from being a waste of time, but it's not a promising way to start the Thanksgiving/Christmas movie season.