Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Release Date: 1993
Running Time: 1hr 30 minutes
Genre: Family
Rating: PG
Format: DVD
Synopsis:
The Addams family try to rescue their beloved uncle Fester from his gold-digging new love, a black widow named Debbie.
The Addams family return for the second time, this time however, they must rescue Fester from a gold-digging serial killer named Debbie. Unfortunately, unlike its predecessor, I didn't feel like this had quite as much character as the first. A few years have passed in real time so it only makes sense that Morticia Addams could quite possibly have become pregnant since the ending of the first film and the beginning of this one. Director Barry Sonnenfeld has already set the ball rolling that the storyline is going to be very tongue in cheek from the get go in showing a very slim Morticia Addams, despite her giving birth to her newborn baby Pubert at the beginning of the film.
Joan Cusack stars as gold-digger Debbie Jellinsky. Although Cusack primarily finds herself in comedic roles, it's quite a different role for her to take on. Cusack handles her character excellently and brings a lot of humour and joy to the storyline. Christopher Lloyd returns as Fester Addams, Lloyd is a magnificent character actor and once again proves his worth with wonderful characterisation and facial expressions expressing his warped and goofy personality. Wednesday and Pugsley, now a little bit older, are still full of mischief, however they aren't particularly fond of their little brother Pubert. Ricci and Workman both deliver excellent performances and work well as a sibling team.
Wednesday and Pugsley unexpectedly find themselves at Camp Chippewa. Camp leaders Gary Granger and Becky Martin-Granger were two characters I wasn't particularly fond of. Very tongue-in-cheek, their characters are exceptionally irritating and wonderfully over the top. At times however, they can be unbearable to watch and so some degree suck the humour of the scenes they are present in. I believe this to be a deliberate act by director Barry Sonnenfeld, however I don't think it worked as well as it could have. The first film worked because the characters had a lot of depth and quirkiness. I got the impression this time, that Barry Sonnenfeld thought the more annoying the characters, the better the film would be.
The first film was very vibrant in colour, the cinematography was gorgeous, something which really stood out on Blu-Ray. Sadly, Owen Roizman didn't return as cinematographer for this film. There was a lot of potential for the colours to stand out in this film, that unfortunately was let down due to poor cinematography. The lighting wasn't used to its full potential, making some scenes look lifeless and messy. A lot of the film takes place at Camp Chippewa, so the production design wasn't as exciting as it was in the first. The Addams mansion has changed ever so slightly, unfortunately it looks more like a set than a home. The production side, really let a lot of the film down, it had the potential to be just as detailed and stunning as the first.
Despite being a massive fan of The Addams Family, I was really dissapointed with this film. The storyline is very simple and funny, however the lack of production design really let it down. The performances of the actors is what really makes this film work. A contemporary score adds a nice flare to the film, with the likes of Tag Team's "Addams whoomp" and The Village People "Macho Man", the soundtrack reminds audiences that it's a light hearted family film that should by no means be taken too seriously.
3.5/5 stars
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