Addams Family Values
“He has my father’s eyes.”
“Gomez, take those out of his mouth.”
The Addams Family gained two new members in this 1993 sequel,
neither of whom was an entirely welcome addition. Back for another
Gothic go-round were Gomez, Morticia, Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley,
Grandma, Lurch and Thing, as well as various Addams cousins and
in-laws.
Addams Family Values kicks off with the announcement by
Morticia that she’s going to have a baby… “Right now!” The wee
mustachioed lad is dubbed Pubert, and is immediately fitted for a
pinstriped suit. Morticia and Gomez are beaming parents, but Wednesday
and Pugsley are convinced that having a new baby means that one of the
older Addams children has to go. Faced with this "kill or be killed"
scenario, the murderous tykes naturally opt for the latter.
Little Pubert survives his older siblings’ plots, but Morticia
decides the baby should probably have a nanny. The new hired help is
buxom blonde Debbie Jellinsky, who immediately sets her sights on the
rich, eligible Fester. Wednesday smells a gold-digging rat, but Debbie
takes care of her by convincing Gomez and Morticia to send their older
children to Camp Chippewa for the summer. With Wednesday and Pugsley
out of the way, Debbie is free to woo Fester, and she does so with a
vengeance.
Meanwhile, Wedesday and Pugsley aren’t really fitting in at upbeat
Camp Chippewa, despite the perky pep talks from counselors Gary and
Becky. Wednesday makes an instant enemy in the snobbish Amanda Buckman
(the same Girl Scout who tried to sell Wednesday cookies in the first
film), but she also strikes up an oddball romance with the nerdy Joel
Glicker. Back at the Addams household, Debbie finally wrangles a
marriage out of Fester, but Morticia is worried about the nanny’s black
widow plans. Things come to a head at Chippewa during an anarchic
“First Thanksgiving” pageant, while Gomez and Morticia race to save
Fester from Debbie’s murderous clutches.
Director Barry Sonnenfeld returned for the sequel, as did most of
the principal cast (with Carol Kane stepping in for Judith Malina as
Grandma). Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, Christina Ricci and the rest
continued their deadpan mastery of their parts, while the addition of
Joan Cusack as Debbie cranked the wacky factor up a notch.
While not as successful as the first film, Addams Family Values did well enough that a second, direct-to-video sequel was produced in 1998, Addams Family Reunion. Sadly, by this time, Raul Julia had passed away, and most of the original cast declined to participate in his absence.
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