The Addams Family 2 Review

The 2019 version of The Addams Family made over $200 million from a $24 million budget. With numbers like that a sequel was inevitable. This time the Addamses go on the road and tour America.

Gomez Addams (Oscar Isaac) fears his children are growing distant from him. To resolve this he plans to take the family on a road trip. The journey develops more urgency because a scientist, Cyrus Strange (Bill Hader) claims that Wednesday (Chloë Grace Moritz) might be his daughter, not Gomez and Morticia’s. Gomez sets out to prevent Wednesday from finding out this information.

The Addams Family (2019) was a surprise hit and sincere with its message about individuality. The sequel attempts to offer more of the same. There was an attempt at another message, has lots of kid-friendly humour, and probably annoy longstanding fans of the franchise. The Addams Family 2 attempted a message about what really makes a family. Even if Wednesday isn’t biologically related to Gomez and Morticia, they would still love her. This was where The Addams Family 2 was most successful because it was attempting a well-meaning message.

On the surface The Addams Family sequel had a different story because it was centred around a road trip. In reality The Addams Family 2 was similar to its predecessor. Both films focused on Wednesday going through a rebellious phase and one of her parents trying to bond with her. This time it was Gomez. Pugsley (Javon Walton) also has a subplot with this film focusing on him the boy trying to attract girls.

The Addams Family 2 was a film that stretched itself thin, even for 90 minutes. The road trip story made The Addams Family 2 an episodic film. An example of this was when the family arrive in Texas and Wednesday was forced to take part in a beauty pageant. It felt like a plot in a children’s show or sitcom where a goth girl was being forced to partake in something so bright, colourful, and girly. It’s a decent idea for a joke but the sequence didn’t add anything to the story. This segment did end with a fun reference to Carrie.

To show how stretched out The Addams Family 2 was there were numerous musical interludes. The worst example of this was when The Addamses meet Cousin It in Miami. The film spends two minutes playing a hip-hop song as he performs a load of jet ski tricks in slow-motion. It was in the film just to fill time. The most random musical moment in the film was when Lurch plays the piano in a biker bar and starts singing ‘I Will Survive.’

The sequel has more pop culture references. As stated earlier, there were even more songs in the sequel, and Cousin It was made into a hip-hop star. Gomez made a reference to Billie Ellish which felt it was made just because she’s popular.

Some of the worst jokes in the film came from Uncle Fester. Nick Kroll of Big Mouth fame played this version of the character and he played Uncle Fester as Coach Steve. Both characters sounded and acted the same – men who could barely function as adults. Uncle Fester even had a subplot like something from Big Mouth because the bald man gave Pugsley bad romantic advice. A joke that felt like it came from Big Mouth was Uncle Lester saying he has only just stopped wearing diapers.

The Addams Family 2 was a mediocre sequel. It was a film that needed padding to justify a cinematic run time. People who disliked the 2019 film will hate this sequel and there isn’t much there for children or adults.