The Addams Family: I could watch it over and over again dreaming to be Morticia (Angelica Huston style).
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
The cast, for a start, is stunning. Raul Julia is suave, sophisticated, dapper, and totally unhinged - a perfect Gomez. Anjelica Huston's Morticia is mesmerising, sharp and equally unhinged. Her pruning of her black roses (she cuts all the heads off) brought winces from the audience. Christina Ricci is disturbingly good at suggesting just the right amount of malice in her portrayal of Wednesday. Christopher Lloyd (the mad professor in Back to the Future? Yes him. He's unrecognisable) is Fester. No one will ever be able to do it that well again. He's enthusiastic, animated, cunning - superb. They, and the supporting cast too, are flawless.
Then there's Thing. Thing is a disembodied hand. In the TV series, it lived in a box. Now, with the wonders of computer animation, Thing can run about, leap on roller-skates and dash down the middle of a busy road. One of the best scenes in the film depicts Thing, who is of course voiceless, trying to signal to Gomez that Morticia's been kidnapped. Wonderful. And Cousin Itt is there, too, for Fester's coming home party. Cousin Itt is all hair, and he squeaks and burbles instead of talking. Everyone knows precisely what he is saying except the audience. Tully's wife, Margaret, falls for him.
The effects are nicely done too, and completely in keeping with the style of the film. The dance sequence, with lots of knife throwing, between Gomez and Fester is great (although you can see the stunt double, at one point, rather clearly). There is an excellent piece with a toy train crash: the toy, for a moment, becomes a real train and we see the horror of one of the passengers as he gazes out at Gomez's gigantic face (it is, apparently, Barry Sonnenfeld in the train). Even the lighting is beautifully thought out. Morticia always has her eyes lit in a very thin strip to make her look more creepy and intense. The lighting guy must have a nightmare trying to get that done in every shot.
So - great cast, great characters, great effects, great set, great lights. `But the film's basically just a succession of one-liners,' the critics cried. Yes - and thank goodness it is. Not merely because trying to construct a serious plot would ruin the absurdity of the film, but also, and mainly, because it's the one-liners that make the film. They do, really.
The film is full of jokes and gags, deadpan and hilarious. It was a riot in the cinema: everyone was laughing and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Okay, so it's not a vastly intelligent work: it didn't win any Oscars, and it's not going to find its way onto a media studies course. No one's going to sit down and analyse what it's really about - what it has to say about modern existence and the human condition. But so what? If you want a great two hours, go and buy some popcorn and rent this film. Better still, buy it: I guarantee you will want to watch it again.
The cast, for a start, is stunning. Raul Julia is suave, sophisticated, dapper, and totally unhinged - a perfect Gomez. Anjelica Huston's Morticia is mesmerising, sharp and equally unhinged. Her pruning of her black roses (she cuts all the heads off) brought winces from the audience. Christina Ricci is disturbingly good at suggesting just the right amount of malice in her portrayal of Wednesday. Christopher Lloyd (the mad professor in Back to the Future? Yes him. He's unrecognisable) is Fester. No one will ever be able to do it that well again. He's enthusiastic, animated, cunning - superb. They, and the supporting cast too, are flawless.
Then there's Thing. Thing is a disembodied hand. In the TV series, it lived in a box. Now, with the wonders of computer animation, Thing can run about, leap on roller-skates and dash down the middle of a busy road. One of the best scenes in the film depicts Thing, who is of course voiceless, trying to signal to Gomez that Morticia's been kidnapped. Wonderful. And Cousin Itt is there, too, for Fester's coming home party. Cousin Itt is all hair, and he squeaks and burbles instead of talking. Everyone knows precisely what he is saying except the audience. Tully's wife, Margaret, falls for him.
The effects are nicely done too, and completely in keeping with the style of the film. The dance sequence, with lots of knife throwing, between Gomez and Fester is great (although you can see the stunt double, at one point, rather clearly). There is an excellent piece with a toy train crash: the toy, for a moment, becomes a real train and we see the horror of one of the passengers as he gazes out at Gomez's gigantic face (it is, apparently, Barry Sonnenfeld in the train). Even the lighting is beautifully thought out. Morticia always has her eyes lit in a very thin strip to make her look more creepy and intense. The lighting guy must have a nightmare trying to get that done in every shot.
So - great cast, great characters, great effects, great set, great lights. `But the film's basically just a succession of one-liners,' the critics cried. Yes - and thank goodness it is. Not merely because trying to construct a serious plot would ruin the absurdity of the film, but also, and mainly, because it's the one-liners that make the film. They do, really.
The film is full of jokes and gags, deadpan and hilarious. It was a riot in the cinema: everyone was laughing and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Okay, so it's not a vastly intelligent work: it didn't win any Oscars, and it's not going to find its way onto a media studies course. No one's going to sit down and analyse what it's really about - what it has to say about modern existence and the human condition. But so what? If you want a great two hours, go and buy some popcorn and rent this film. Better still, buy it: I guarantee you will want to watch it again.
