A Hanna-Barbera mistake: cartoon-izing Charles Addams' Goth family for cheap, low-rent yuks. In one of the episodes I was unfortunate enough to see, the Addams' were duped into a phony rocket ride to the moon (bad guys want to steal their house, which now doubles as the family car). So much of the action is spent on the sloppily-drawn villains that the main characters get lost in the shuffle (especially Wednesday and Pugsly, the latter voiced by a pre-teen Jodie Foster). Wouldn't kids get a bigger kick out of the Addams' just doing their spooky business at home? And why is so much time spent on the talky adults? Were they just easier to draw? The animation throughout (despite several Japanese names in the credits) is cheap and lousy, like Colorforms set to motion. They didn't even bother coloring in the whites of the villains' eyes. As for Foster, she chimes in with a line here and there: "Dad, look!", "A moon ride?", "Hey!" No wonder she never mentions this. It's a visual insult. *2005 UPDATE* a recent appearance on David Letterman's show prompted Foster to admit she did do cartoon work, "and lots of embarrassing things", in her early days!
Review of The Addams Family
