It's third-time unlucky for this tiresome sequel to a sequel of a remake of a 1960s television series.
If you remember The Addams Family in any of its previous incarnations, then you know all you need to about this one. They're a spooky family with pretty much one of every stock scary character from the movies. There's Lurch (Carel Struycken), the Frankenstein look-alike, Uncle Fester (Pat Thomas) the mad scientist, Thing, who's no more than a chopped-off hand, the gloomy kids Pugsley (Jerry Messing) and Wednesday (Nicole Fugere), and (of course) the parents, Gomez (Tim Curry) and Morticia (Daryl Hannah).
The family blithely goes through life, unaware that they're out of step with the rest of the world. In this instalment, the family is mistakenly invited to the Adams' family reunion. Thinking, of course, that the spelling difference in the last name was just a typographical error, the family heads off to wreak havoc at the reunion, coming into conflict with the snobby Adams siblings (Ed Begley Jr. and company), while endearing themselves to the crotchety family patriarch (Ray Wolston).
The formula is kookiness, and the filmmakers try very hard to deliver. The only problem is that this is the same joke told over and over again, and by now it's becoming tiresome. Perhaps that's why this clunker never made it to the big screen - someone finally realised that audiences have had enough. It's too bad they didn't figure that out before pouring a pile of money into this one.
Most of the stars saunter through Addams Family Reunion, seemingly hoping nobody notices they are even there. Daryl Hannah rarely utters a word and contributes nothing to the film. Tim Curry is more animated, but still doesn't come close to rescuing this aimless collection of weak gags and special effects.
