The Addams Family 2

That was a bad movie. But there are a lot of bad movies. This one wasn't the worst of them, but I'm going to slam it in a way that I don't most bad movies. I'm going to say the absolute worst thing I can say about a movie, and generally speaking, I don't bother saying this about most bad movies, even ones much worse than this one.

There is no good reason the movie needed to exist. I can think of no more horrible slam than to point out nobody asked for it, and it doesn't make pop-culture ANY better on ANY level for existing. I understand a lot of times movies are greenlit due to contractual obligations, or like in this case, to keep a certain brand in the public consciousness. But those aren't actual reasons to make a movie. A movie's existence being designed in a boardroom rather than a filmmaker's heart is the emptiest of experiences.

How emotionally unfulfilled am I by this cynical cash grab? The filmmakers are so incompetent that they think the idea that Wednesday might have been switched at birth is a good reason for her to abandon her family. They believe it's justified on some level, and the "happy ending" is proving the scientist is a liar. Do the producers understand how families even work? They are exploring the notion of what makes a true family and coming up with some very questionable opinions when doing so. I'm not happy.

I'm looking over my review archives and I gave the original film four stars out of five. It's possible my standards have changed since that movie came out. This past year I have been binging a LOT of movies, and have probably seen more movies in the last year than I have in the previous ten. But the time the year is up, maybe a lifetime. It's possible my standards have changed in a very short time. But my old review of the first movie did not mention anything odd or unusual about my reaction to it, so I'm thinking the problem is actually that the sequel is much worse. I could be wrong, and was too kind to the first. But I think my solid review would STILL have been very different if that's all it was.

Were there any goods things in the movie? Aside from the twist that Pongo was good, and an old friend of Lurch's, I liked both the "I Will Survive" musical number, and Christina Aguilera's version of The Addams Family Theme. Very hummable rendition by Aguilera. But I really struggled to enjoy any part of that, or even understand why the movie was made to begin with. *.