Even though the title says “New” it’s not really a new Addams family except for the more confusing Wendy Jr. and Pugsly Jr. characters. I couldn’t tell if they were Wendy and Pugsley’s kids (not together ya weirdo) or Morticia and Gomez had two more kids and named them Jr.’s. It’s the Addams Family, what do you want me to do? This made for TV movie uses most of the original cast members from the show that had ended nearly ten years earlier. John Astin is Gomez, Carolyn Jones is Morticia, Jackie Coogan is Uncle Fester. Man, my friend Cerpts also on Blogger here: The Land of Cerpts and Honey he's doing The Countdown to Halloween as well and is also on Letterboxd here: https://letterboxd.com/cerpts/, used to have the best Addams Family game on Atari I wanna say, or maybe it was Nintendo it was so long ago now. But where was I? Henry Darrow (Loosin’ It and Criminal Passion) is Gomez’s brother Pancho, Ted Cassidy is Lurch, Lisa Loring is Wednesday Sr., and Ken Weatherwax is Pugsley Sr.
The story centers on the family getting ready for Halloween while crooks infiltrate the house with a fake Morticia and Gomez after they bug the place. After the caper is foiled the family is free to celebrate the holiday the Addam’s way. I was never an Addams Family fan; I was a Munsters kid. Here, as usual, Lurch was my favorite character of the film. I do have some complaints, and these might seem like I’m picking on the film but I still feel the need to air my grievances. For a Halloween movie Halloween really doesn’t come into the film until it’s almost half over. The running gag of when Tish speaks French is way overused here. I mean every time you turn around Gomez, Pancho, or a fake Addams was using the “Tish, you spoke French!” line. Now there was a moment in a scene where they used the 70’s Life cereal commercial tagline; I liked that spot. Another complaint I had was Cousin It sort of looked a little ragged. They could have spent a little more cash on that costume I feel.
Now, for all the negative I have said I will
say that throughout the entire movie I had to keep reminding myself that this
is nearly fifty years old. It doesn’t
look or feel like it is that old so that’s a good positive to take away. With that being said some of the
effects are fifty years old and look fifty years old. Technology being what it was in ’77. So for a film that has just about the same
negatives as it does positives, and that’s saying something considering I’m not
an original fan, I will bump my score about a half of a star. I was going to only give it two and a half
but I go three stars as I add a half of a star for nostalgia's sake. So, let’s go three Lil Bo Peeps out of five. If you loved the original Adam's Family you'll like this.
Yes, that was FESTER'S QUEST on Nintendo . . . and of course I STILL HAVE IT; the Nintendo console and the games with it are in the attic.
ReplyDeleteUnlike you, I was definitely an ADDAMS FAMILY kid; THE MUNSTERS looked gorgeous but they were too goody-goody, sweet & nice. THE ADDAMS FAMILY were warped and liked things morbid and dangerous and dark -- exactly like me. I always felt I was probably related to them in some way. THE MUNSTERS, on the other hand, were so bland and sweet that, if they hadn't been monsters but were just ordinary people, they would've made LEAVE IT TO BEAVER look like the Manson Family!
But hey, I watched both shows religiously in reruns so there's that.
As far as this TV movie, I know I've seen it but it was SOOOOOO long ago I remember nothing about it other than I don't think I liked it that much. I seem to get a "the magic is gone" memory that it didn't match up to the original show. One day praps I'll rewatch it and see what I think.