TV show was so much more *funny* than this, with slapstick jokes and sound effects. This movie loses the plot and tries to create a world different from the one which was created as an idea for a single panel comic and in a different time where the novelty has worn off.
The comic and the TV show were both products of a day when people were learning to break out of the conformity of the 50's and early 60's. "Goth" hadn't become an industry yet which stores in the mall catered to.
The TV show was *funny*. It wasn't "subtle". You didn't have to listen closely to the TV show to "get" it.
For example, there was a weekly sequence seeing "regular" people left running out of the house frightened for their lives, often using under cranked film (fast motion). (not unlike the stock joke of the Casper cartoons) In this movie, however, the house guests are about as weird as the Addams. There was no "contrast".
On TV, Jackie Coogan's Fester provided pure over the top belly laughs with a vaudeville like cadence. With his light bulb and self-destructive, one-man-three-stooges tricks (his regular headache cure gag), adding the sound effects made us all laugh out loud on a weekly basis.
And let's not forget the fact that the original TV show actors defined those roles, esp Carolyn Jones and the guy (pardon me) who played Lurch. In this, however, Lurch dropped into the background. "Thing" had a much bigger role (thanks to CGI, we completely lost "the box" which was kind of the joke). To be sure, Angelica Houston was very good, but I thought they played up the sex/romance a half-note too much for what was really a kids show.
Lastly, as a point of art, the TV show was in black and white, which was fitting for the macabre theme. This movie, however, was a lush production and the attention to detail was fantastic.
But furniture doesn't make me *laugh*. (although I remember the laugh track on the TV show tried to make us laugh at it) Often, movie adaptations of TV shows will take some lingering question from the TV show and actually address it. Like, where did Gomez and Morticia meet? What exactly is "Thing"? (who is way overdone in the movie, thanks to CGI) So many missed opportunities.
Instead, they create an story about Fester which was never part of the TV show, introducing a main character (the lawyer) which wasn't part of the original show, and again, focus on a very well done set design (yawn) to weave a story (the vault) which only takes you farther away from the characters you fell in love with or any real jokes.
Perhaps it's because we have so many more choices today that "humorous" doesn't cut it any more.
Interesting and pretty but outside of the pre-title sequence gag, simply not funny.
The comic and the TV show were both products of a day when people were learning to break out of the conformity of the 50's and early 60's. "Goth" hadn't become an industry yet which stores in the mall catered to.
The TV show was *funny*. It wasn't "subtle". You didn't have to listen closely to the TV show to "get" it.
For example, there was a weekly sequence seeing "regular" people left running out of the house frightened for their lives, often using under cranked film (fast motion). (not unlike the stock joke of the Casper cartoons) In this movie, however, the house guests are about as weird as the Addams. There was no "contrast".
On TV, Jackie Coogan's Fester provided pure over the top belly laughs with a vaudeville like cadence. With his light bulb and self-destructive, one-man-three-stooges tricks (his regular headache cure gag), adding the sound effects made us all laugh out loud on a weekly basis.
And let's not forget the fact that the original TV show actors defined those roles, esp Carolyn Jones and the guy (pardon me) who played Lurch. In this, however, Lurch dropped into the background. "Thing" had a much bigger role (thanks to CGI, we completely lost "the box" which was kind of the joke). To be sure, Angelica Houston was very good, but I thought they played up the sex/romance a half-note too much for what was really a kids show.
Lastly, as a point of art, the TV show was in black and white, which was fitting for the macabre theme. This movie, however, was a lush production and the attention to detail was fantastic.
But furniture doesn't make me *laugh*. (although I remember the laugh track on the TV show tried to make us laugh at it) Often, movie adaptations of TV shows will take some lingering question from the TV show and actually address it. Like, where did Gomez and Morticia meet? What exactly is "Thing"? (who is way overdone in the movie, thanks to CGI) So many missed opportunities.
Instead, they create an story about Fester which was never part of the TV show, introducing a main character (the lawyer) which wasn't part of the original show, and again, focus on a very well done set design (yawn) to weave a story (the vault) which only takes you farther away from the characters you fell in love with or any real jokes.
Perhaps it's because we have so many more choices today that "humorous" doesn't cut it any more.
Interesting and pretty but outside of the pre-title sequence gag, simply not funny.