
When Gomez asks Fester to tip a man, he pulls out three severed fingers and gives him one (we later see that one again). The Addams Family 2 is surely less dark than the 2019 film, but there are still some gross-out or freaky moments. The macabre nature of the characters lends a darkness to these movies, which is only counteracted by some goofy humor - usually from Pugsley, Gomez and Uncle Fester. But the world of The Addams Family definitely has a look all its own. Unlike Illumination's The Grinch from a few years ago, which was able to create the most eye-popping detail amidst a cartoony world, the brilliance of the animation for The Addams Family 2 doesn't really reveal itself until Kitty Kat is digging in the sand on the beach, or we get to see the crisp ripples in the water. The animation for The Addams Family 2, character design aside (which is an acquired taste you're either going to like it or hate it), is pretty good.

(The only problem it may create is that, in the midst of encouraging our differences, we start to lose sight of when a "difference" can be "wrong." But, I suppose that's a loaded topic for a review of a movie like The Addams Family.) It's becoming a bit tired to find almost every animated movie pushing that these days, but I suppose it's not necessarily a bad message. The filmmakers used the fish-out-of-water family to drive home the message that being different is okay, so with 2021's follow-up, The Addams Family 2, the studio and creative team double down on that message. But it's one of those things where you just can't place your finger on what's quite missing.

At times, it could be rather witty, but overall, the movie kind of fell flat. (Something I actually didn't realize before researching their history for this review.) I had missed the 2019 movie, but when Universal sent us The Addams Family 2 for review, they graciously hooked us up with the first one for context.Ģ019's The Addams Family is an interesting reimagining of the series, with heavy leanings on dark and gross imagery to fuel the humor. The beloved macabre and morbid family has seen many iterations over the decades that have followed, the latest of which started with a new computer-animated feature film in 2019, with animation designs inspired by Charles Addams' own drawings. The show had run in the mid-60's, but it had actually spawned from a comic series that cartoonist Charles Addams had created back in 1938.

