#90s wednesday was very similar and a lot of people grew up watching those movies

[devilsskettle]

okay my impression of the wednesday show & all the hype around it & the negative reaction to the hype: seems like a show made for younger teens but everyone is acting like it’s not a YA show

[patriiiarch]

Hi what are your thoughts on some of the lesser known addams family adaptations namely addams family reunion, the late 90s sitcom, the musical and the recent 2019 movie?

Addams Family Reunion was my first experience with the Addams Family. I had the VHS when I was a kid and I loved it. I remember taking it to my gran’s house and leaving it there just so I could have something to watch when visiting. But then I grew up and saw the early 90s movies, the tv show, and the 90s cartoon and I realized that those were WAY better.

Now whenever I see any scenes from that movie, I cringe. It’s just not great and none of the actors have chemistry with each other, which is so important for them as a family unit. Even the plot was dumb. The whole thing starts with them getting an invitation to a family reunion, but it’s addressed to the “Adams” and they’re just like lol ok guess that’s for us then. It’s just all a bit silly and lame, especially when it was the follow-up to the early 90s movies and the dream cast. 

From what I can remember, I don’t think I ever saw an episode of The New Addams Family when I was younger. To this day, I’ve only watched a few because I just can’t handle it. They remade the classic show’s episodes, but they just miss the mark. Maybe it’s a show that people would be attached to because of their childhood, but I don’t have that kind of attachment. I just remember my reaction to the first time I heard the new theme they had for it and just… nah. The Addams theme is too iconic to change. There are ways to update it, but don’t change its core.

The musical is ooc for a lot of the characters. It’s like they didn’t know how to make a musical about them without including some kind of unnecessary drama. First of all, Wednesday wants to marry this guy and she changes the way she dresses just to impress his family. She tells her parents that she wants “one normal night” and “can’t we be an average family” when she would never say that. The whole point of the Addams’ is that they aren’t aware that they’re abnormal. They think everyone else is strange! So, it’s weird for them to even entertain the thought of pretending they’re something they aren’t. They have this attitude of ‘we are who we are, take it or leave it.’ They wouldn’t change for anyone and Wednesday definitely wouldn’t change herself for a boy. What is this, Grease? 

Anyway, then we come to the issue with the portrayal of Morticia and Gomez’s relationship. Dear Lord! So, Wednesday goes to Gomez and tells him to keep her engagement a secret from her mother, which seems strange already. The family has always been really close with each other and for there to be this weird tension between mother and daughter is just bizarre. Again, drama for the sake of drama.

So, Gomez keeps the secret (even though he wouldn’t keep a secret from Tish) and then Morticia finds out and she’s angry about it. She’s so angry that she actually packs her bags and kisses a sleeping Pugsley goodbye (I’ve only seen the UK tour live so I’m not sure how many differences there are in other versions) and then goes right to the gate. Morticia was really going to abandon her children and husband over something like that. The family is all about sticking together through everything and this didn’t show that. So many people are always praising them for being the most functional family in fiction, but the musical cheapened them by throwing in some soap opera drama and dumb bs.

It gets worse, too. I remember there was a part that made it seem like Morticia had given up everything to have a family. Like she had so many dreams and goals, but she sacrificed a life of travel (she said that she never got to see the catacombs of Paris) to settle. It made it seem like having a family and being a wife was a second choice and it was very woe is me. I hated that. I don’t know how they got Morticia’s characterization so wrong. I could rant about this for days, but me and Rae ( @mortiiicia ) have literally gone on long Discord rants about this with each other. 

There are some good songs in the show. I do like When You’re An Addams, Happy/Sad, and Move Toward the Darkness. I wish they would do a completely new musical and keep them in character while having similar effects that the Beetlejuice musical has. But yeah, let me end my rant here before I go on and on.

I was surprised by the 2019 movie. The CGI made me wary and the trailers were a bit off-putting with some of the jokes and the forced meme-y dialogue on some of the promotional art. I think it was one of Pugsley’s posters that used a line that referred to something being “lit”. It also didn’t help when Cousin Itt rolled up to the house with Snoop Dogg music playing in that one trailer. I know he voices him (although there isn’t much to voice lmao) but I was like come on.

But surprisingly, I liked it more than I thought I would. It was actually pretty heartwarming and I liked that they gave Pugsley his own little storyline because he’s usually cast aside for Wednesday. Then they recreated the original show’s intro sequence at the end and, honestly, that was iconic. So, yeah! I didn’t hate it! 

I’m so protective of the Addams Family and I just want them to be portrayed well. The early 90s movies still reign supreme along with the TV show. The 90s cartoon is amazing, too. The 70s one? Eh, that one was a bit all over the place, but I think that was more to do with the dated jokes and Gomez’s voice acting in that is WEIRD (and not the good kind.) I have the boxset of the 70s cartoon and will give it another go at some point. I just wish there was a DVD release of the 90s one :(

But yeah! That’s how I feel about the different portrayals. Thanks for the question!