A VHS rarity that might have been better left in the crypt.
This is Addams Family Reunion, a 1998 TV Movie that was supposed to be the start of something big. Coming off of the heels of the 2 Films, this one was the Pilot for a new Show.
Remember The New Addams Family?
No? It ran for 65 Episodes.
It ran for about 2 years.
Still no? I can't help you then.
This is right in the middle of the time when the VHS (and later DVD) Market was rife with this kind of thing. The VHS I own- this only exists on VHS btw- has Trailers at the front of it for Richie Rich's Christmas Wish and Dennis The Menace Strikes Again. Oy vey!
The big thing here- almost all of the Cast of the original Films is gone. Obviously, one is going to be missing (Raul Julia), but the rest comes down to them just plain turning this down. I can't blame them. We get Tim Curry and Daryll Hannah as the new Leads, which is certainly a good start.
Let's see if they can do more than that as we hop back to 1998 for...
In the Cold Open, we see a terrified Mailman chased, traumatized and eventually eaten (off-screen) by the monster in the Addams Family's Mailbox (or it is the Mailbox).
Nothing says Warner Bros Family Entertainment like that!
Gomez (Curry) is excited to get the Unabridged Addams Family Lineage delivered and with it an invitation to a big Family Reunion.
An Addams Family Reunion- roll those credits!
Gomez's Grandparents (Kevin McCarthy and Estelle Harris) show up and they are acting strange.
To clarify, they are acting like normal, cliché old people.
They apparently tried to get John Astin for the role, but he turned it down. He would, however, play the role twice on the TV Show.
They go to the Reunion, but there was a mix-up.
The Addams Family here is a bunch of WASPs (supposedly related to our 2nd President John Addams), led by Ed Begley Jr (who wants to kill his Dad- Ray Walston).
He gets into a competitive relationship with Gomez, which is Subplot A.
On top of that, Pugsley falls for his Daughter, while Wednesday has a tempestuous conflict with the daughter.
Do we need more Subplots?
Alright, Lurch has a thing for another WASPy lady AND the real Addams Family ends up at the iconic House with Grandma and Thing.
Meanwhile, Fester makes a dog that transforms into a dubious CGI Monster that runs amok.
Somehow, that ends up with Thing being caught by a Dog Catcher (Clint Howard)!
The tension between the two Fathers leads to a big fight during a Gala in the Grandfather's honor.
Somehow, this ends up in The Addams Family being arrested, which somehow overshadows the fact that Pugsley and Wednesday WERE CAUGHT GRAVEROBBING and buried Lurch in the body's place (to let him sleep).
They are rescued by the Grandfather and they put Begley Jr in the Electric Shock Chair (which he used on a happy Fester) at the 'mercy' of his Patients.
How...funny and not at all dark.
The clan returns home together (facing no repercussions, I guess) and leave the Grandparents with the WASP Family (minus a presumably dead Begley Jr).
However, then Pugsley bemoans the loss of the massive firework he was given at the beginning by Great-Grandpa (and left at the WASP's House)...and then a massive explosion.
So...um, The End (for everyone there)?
A cumbersome mess of a Film with a few high spots within it.
To start off with the positive, Tim Curry does well as Gomez. Apparently, the Director wanted to pull back on the 'Latin Lothario' aspect of the Character made famous by Julia.
Even so, this performance is good...so it's a shame that he's not on the subsequent Show. In fact, nobody but the Actress that played Wednesday is- weird.
Other Actors- like Hannah and Begley Jr- get moments to shine, although the former is too understated here and the latter is too over-the-top at times. In fact, that's one of the big factors- the Film is often very over-the-top, since it plays for a frenetic, kid audience.
Mind you, the same Film features grave-robbing, people being eaten by monsters, women being chased by different monsters and a man likely being killed by electro-shock therapy. Mixed messaging, no?
The other big problem here is that the Film is made up of too many Subplots, leading to the Film being a bit scattershot and nothing quite developing. It jumps from Scene to Scene so often that I couldn't be bothered to care about the sixth Sub Plot more than the fourth one. This is probably another thing that comes from the newer, younger Demographic for this thing.
It is worth noting that Barry Sonnefeld had nothing to do with this one and, instead, they had a new name. This might explain it all...
Next up, I go back and reexamine a Film I last watched in 2009. Will it hold up to my increased scrutiny or need to be Buried again. Stay tuned...
No comments:
Post a Comment