The animated film of the “the Addams Family” has recently been released in theatres in time for Halloween. The film was made by “Sausage Party” directors Greg Tiernon and Conrad Vernon, which has created a “family” movie that has plenty of sordid jokes for the parents. 

The cast is comprised of major actors like academy award winner, Charlize Theron, and golden globe winner, Oscar Isaac. Other major stars include Chloe Grace Moretz and Finn Wolfhard, who have previously had roles in horror movies.

When I heard that an animated version of “the Addams Family” was being created, I thought it was a bit outplayed like all of the live action remakes Disney is doing. For the most part, my belief in the movie being an unnecessary remake was true. The family patriarch Gomez, who always seemed mysterious and handsome to me, was turned into a darker toned version of  a Tim Burton penguin. The plot could have redeemed the terrible animation, yet it fell flat due to the heavy moral message and the predictable villain.

One aspect of the film that revealed some of the potential of the story was the name of the town that was being developed by the film’s villain, Margaux. The perfect city was called “Assimilation” and was created to be a place where everyone was the same. 

Learning about the effects of assimilation and the existence of it in the real world, the term ‘assimilation’ carries some of the heavy darkness it does in the real world. However, in the film, the negatives of assimilation are focused on looking a certain way and living a certain way. The enforcement of different races to fit into this certain mold was not broached, which I felt was a missed opportunity.

Another interesting part of the film was the appearance of Margaux. Her hair was an immense mass of blond and reminded me of a certain person with a ridiculous hairstyle who is blond; President Donald Trump. 

Her need to fit people into a certain ideal and using force to evacuate them also resembles our current president.However, she lacks the depth of character that villains in “the Addams family” franchise. All viewers know is that Margaux desperately wants her perfect world to become a reality. However, her strong desire for this is not revealed like it was in the live action movies starring Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia. The main villain desired to have children and killed her rich husbands after marrying them because she lived a life of abject poverty where she was denied many of the things other children had. Margaux’s villainy simply just exists without a reason.

The whiteness of this film is very clear in its protagonists and antagonist. Yes, the Addams family are a different kind of family, but they are positively white because of their pale skin which gives them some redeemable quality according to villain Margaux, who tries to remake their house so it will fit into the neighborhood. Speaking parts are reserved only for white characters. Even though African American and Chinese American people can be seen in the film, they are background characters who viewers don’t get to hear. 

“The Addams Family” is an animated movie that aims to strike viewers over the head with morals like family and acceptance. It could have been much more than another remake, but it fell flat in several ways and was slightly terrifying for a children’s movie. Yet, it was definitely better than the last three “Shrek” movies, so that counts for something.