The Addams Family is an iconic franchise with great stories on the big and small screen. It began life as a series of morbidly funny cartoons by Charles Addams for The New Yorker in the 1930s. Combining cute family comedy with some surprisingly dark punchlines, the cartoons were a huge hit. The first Addams Family movie was 1977’s television film, and the brood reappeared in feature-length form 14 years later. Starring Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia, 1991’s The Addams Family was a campy, financially successful reinvention of the titular clan. However, the uneven tone was not well-received by critics.

1993 saw the family return in Addams Family Values, a darker sequel that disappointed commercially but earned better reviews than its predecessor. The Addams Family were soon relegated to a direct-to-video sequel, and with the new cast, this outing failed to make the same impact as the original movies. The next time the clan appeared on-screen was in an animated reboot and its sequel. Determining the best of the franchise is difficult.

6

Halloween With The New Addams Family (1977)

The Original TV Film

A barely feature-length first outing for the clan, Halloween With The New Addams Family is more of a thrown-together special episode than an actual standalone movie. Halloween With The New Addams Family was something of a reunion for The Addams Family‘s original ’60s sitcom cast as Carolyn Jones, John Astin, and Jackie Coogan all reprised their roles.

Halloween With The New Addams Family was also released at the heyday of the TV movie era before the medium was seen as a step down from the multiplex. Unfortunately, Halloween With The New Addams Family couldn’t bring back the most important aspect of the original show’s success: its witty, dark humor. By the late ‘70s, the coyly macabre jokes of the original sitcom were seen as tame by an audience who had been introduced to darker, raunchier comedy in the intervening decade.

Sadly, Halloween With The New Addams Family did little to update the show’s trademark humor. The jokes feel dated and corny in this late addition to the franchise, a problem not helped by a threadbare plot. Halloween With The New Addams Family isn’t unwatchable (although the witch doctor subplot has not aged too well). Still, as a somewhat cobbled-together effort, it is the least essential of the family’s feature-length adventures.

5

Addams Family Reunion (1998)

A Straight-To-Video Reboot

Despite netting cult icon Tim Curry as Gomez (a truly inspired casting coup), Addams Family Reunion has little else going for it as an addition to the live-action Addams Family oeuvre. The premise is solid: the Addams arrive at the wrong family reunion, where the outwardly normal guests get embroiled in a murder mystery.

However, the movie steers clear of the darker elements of earlier live-action Addams Family movies, resulting in an outing that is too slapstick and G-rated to work as part of the franchise. That said, Curry carries this one and elevates the flawed film with a typically charismatic performance that makes Addams Family Reunion worth a watch.

4

The Addams Family 2 (2021)

Not Quite As Good As The First Animated Film

The Addams Family 2

2/10

Release Date

October 1, 2021

Runtime

93minutes

Director

Conrad Vernon, Greg Tiernan

Writers

Benji Samit, Dan Hernandez

After some were disappointed by the 2019 movie, many devotees of the kooky clan held out hope that 2021’s Addams Family 2 could put the franchise back on track. Sadly, Addams Family 2 was a downgrade in several ways. Critics were even harsher this time out, while the box office was about half that of the 2019 movie.

That said, Addams Family 2 had the misfortune of coming out during the pandemic, and had its theatrical take hampered by Universal’s decision to release it on VOD on the same day. Those issues aside, Addams Family 2 just didn’t live up to what came before it within the franchise and is unfavorably looked down upon compared to those.

3

The Addams Family (2019)

A Relatively Fresh Take

The Addams Family

6/10

Release Date

October 11, 2019

Runtime

1h 27m

Director

Conrad Vernon

Writers

Matt Lieberman, Pamela Pettler

2019’s Addams Family was wildly successful, earning over $200 million. Casting Charlize Theron as Morticia was a clever choice, as was the seductive but offbeat Oscar Isaac as Gomez. However, the pair is unable to inject much life into this animated effort.

The overly familiar plotline (the Addams relocate to an average suburb where their lifestyle inevitably attracts the locals’ ire) is used as a springboard for some fun sight gags. However, the humor was too topical and felt dated almost immediately, while the animation style looks a little cheap in comparison to the Hotel Transylvania franchise. Still, the Addams Family voice cast’s efforts make this a perfectly passable outing.

2

The Addams Family (1991)

A Beloved ’90s Classic

The Addams Family

Release Date

November 22, 1991

Runtime

99 Minutes

Director

Barry Sonnenfeld

Writers

Charles Addams, Larry Wilson, Caroline Thompson

Producers

Graham Place

Despite introducing the most famous on-screen iteration of the clan, 1991’s The Addams Family is a significantly weaker movie than its darker sequel. The Addams Family not only follows the familiar “relocate to a normal community, get shunned” storyline, it also keeps its humor much more child-friendly than the more risqué Addams Family Values.

That said, this is still the outing that introduced Christopher Lloyd’s Uncle Fester, Raul Julia’s Gomez, and Anjelica Huston’s unmatched Morticia, as well as Christina Ricci’s Wednesday. While the tone is uneven — and the Uncle Fester impostor subplot is a bit sloppy — the casting is on point and remains unparalleled.

1

Addams Family Values (1993)

A Shockingly Great Sequel

Addams Family Values

Release Date

November 19, 1993

Runtime

94 Minutes

Director

Barry Sonnenfeld

Writers

Charles Addams, Paul Rudnick

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Darker, funnier, and more twisted, 1993’s Addams Family Values is an all-around superior sequel. Viewers who liked Christina Ricci’s Wednesday will love the superb subplot where she’s sent to summer camp and turns the cheery environs into anarchy. This unforgettable storyline features a great rivalry between Wednesday and a young Mercedes McNab. Fans of Christopher Lloyd’s zany Uncle Fester will be delighted by Joan Cusack’s comically conniving villainess.

Meanwhile, Julia and Huston are stronger than ever, and their charming work affirms that Addams Family Values is a rare follow-up that comfortably exceeds its predecessor, not only in funny moments, but genuinely dark ones.

There Was A Canceled Addams Family Movie

It was surprising to see the franchise become a straight-to-video release with 1998’s Addams Family Reunion. While Addams Family Values didn’t do huge box office numbers, it was liked by critics and fans, so another installment in theaters sounded likely. Alas, Addams Family Reunion arrived and mostly killed the franchise for a long time. Between it and the arrival of the 2019 animated film, there was one more attempt to resurrect the series.

That came in 2010 when Illumination Entertainment acquired the rights to the Addams Family. The plan was to release a stop-motion animated movie based on the original drawing. Even more interesting is that Tim Burton was attached to write, produce, and possibly direct. Given his history with stop-motion animation and his eventual work on Netflix’s Wednesday, Burton would’ve been an ideal choice to work on the project.

Alas, it was only a few years later, in 2013, that Illumination announced (via Variety) the cancelation of the film. Along with this version of The Addams Family, the studio also shelved movies based on Where’s Waldo?, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Woody Woodpecker. It ended up working out in the end, though, as Tim Burton’s fingerprints are all over the successful Wednesday series, where he directed several episodes.