Movie Review: Addams Family Values (1993)

Synopsis: Gomez and Morticia Addams are thrilled to have a new son, Pubert. However, their children, Wednesday and Pugsley, are jealous of the newborn and are constantly trying to harm him. Believing it will help, the Addams hire a nanny, Debbie. What they don't know is Debbie is a notorious black widow with her sights on Uncle Fester and his millions. When Wednesday figures out her plan and confronts Debbie, she and Pugsley are sent to a summer camp full of over privileged children and overbearing counselors.

Who's in it? The movie stars Christina Ricci, Christopher Lloyd, Joan Cusack, Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston and Carol Kane.

Review: I recently re-watched The Addams Family and since I enjoyed it so much, decided to watch the sequel, Addams Family Values yesterday evening while my wife was working on some projects in her crafting studio. It had been a while since I had watched this movie in its entirety and, while the original is still a classic in my book, I realized this one is nowhere near as good (though I would still rank is considerably higher than the 2019 cartoon).

So, first of all, this movie is a lot more adult than I remembered. The first movie had some questionable scenes but, for the most part, I'd describe it as family friendly. This film, in comparison, basically had a main plot that centered around Uncle Fester (Lloyd) being manipulated into marrying Debbie (Cusack) and disowning his family because he wanted to get laid. And that was before adding in some very disturbing jokes relating to Fester and Gomez (Julia) looking at a centerfold of their mother in an adult magazine (hinting at Fester masturbating to it) and a suggested physical relationship between Fester and the disembodied hand, Thing (Christopher Hart).

I also thought the movie reduced Gomez and Morticia (Huston) to secondary character status. They were in the movie but really don't do a whole heck of a lot other than worry over Pubert (Kaitlyn and Kristen Hooper) and try to file a police report. We're taking freaking Gomez Addams here, the guy who used a sword to rescue his kidnapped wife in the last film. Gomez Addams doesn't give up just because the police aren't interested in helping.

The movie does, admittedly, have some bright spots. Cusack is actually quite entertaining as the psychotic nanny, especially as she continually attempts to kill her new husband only to learn Fester isn't easy to kill. I did wonder why she would attempt to kill him in an electric chair after already failing to electrocute him but I'll let that pass.

In addition, Ricci once again proved to be the best Wednesday Addams (sorry Jenna Ortega and Lisa Loring). The fish out of water storyline involving Wednesday and Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) was a bit predictable but fun. 

My only complaint about that subplot is it left a lot of things up in the air as far as things ended. The movie cut out as Wednesday was lighting a match to seemingly burn the bratty Amanda Buckman (Mercedes McNab) alive while the two camp counselors (Christine Baranski and Peter MacNicol) were being roasted over a fire but later scenes seem to indicate everyone survived unharmed and unprosecuted.

Perhaps if the movie would have made that the main story, it would have been a bit more memorable.

Final Opinion: The Addams Family was an unexpected pleasure that remains one of my favorites. This movie was clearly just trying to capitalize on the previous film's success and could have used a lot more work as far as the plot went. It was still funny at times, but not enough.

My Grade: C

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Here are some reviews of other movies from 1993:

Movie Review: The Fugitive (1993)

Movie Review: Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

Movie Review: The Nutcracker (1993)

Movie Review: Leprechaun (1993)