A postman gets a bit of a surprise but manages to complete his task of delivering a parcel to the Addams family. At last, Gomez has received a copy of the Addams family history and sets about tracking down distant relatives. Making contact, they invite Grandpa and Grandma Addams to stay with them for a while and get acquainted. However minor things about their characters mark them out as being a bit different from the rest of the family and Gomez doubts their veracity and starts to try and track down more of them.
The opening credits to this film had not even finishing running and already it was clear that this was going to be a cheap and stupid film that totally fails to capture the enjoyably dark mood of the previous two remakes. In the opening scene we have a horribly mugging postman chased by cheap special effects while "wacky" music plays over the top of it all. This is a million miles from the Gothic dark humour of the two other films and it sets the standard for the rest of this shoddy laugh-free zone. The plot is pretty poor and uninspiring, providing only a very basic frame to keep things moving. Laughs are hard to come by and certainly those who enjoyed the two other films (I did) will find little to enjoy here.
The feeling of it all being a cheap knock-off is right up there on the screen. The flat cinematography and lighting cannot even compare to the darkness and atmosphere of the other two films and the direction is never better than average. The cast continue this trend. The replacement of the original actors is no surprise but it is impossible to forgive how poor they are. Curry is generally watchable but here he has just been told to impersonate Julia and his inability to make the role his own means he pales by way of comparison. Of course he looks like Brando when viewed alongside Hannah. Huston had great presence but Hannah just feels forced and in no way fits the role. Messing looks the part but Fugere can get nowhere near Ricci. Thomas is terrible as Fester and people like Begley and McCarthy should really have had something better to do with their time.
Overall a terrible film from start to finish. Well, actually, let me be fair I don't know if it was terrible all the way to the end because I bailed out just after the halfway mark. It had all become too much for me to bare and I saw no reason to stick with it whatsoever. It looks cheap, has poor performances, a poor plot, cheap effects and generally feels shoddy if the makers didn't bother to put the effort in then why should you?
