The Addams Family

THE GIST: Hounded by villagers in their current abode, the Addams Family moves to a dilapidated asylum on top of a mountain surrounded by a marsh, confident that no one will ever bother them there. A few years later, a real estate developer with no scruples sets her gaze on the area.

Animated movies have become commonplace at the multiplex, so it's inevitable to stumble upon a stinker every now and then. The Addams Family, the latest take on the famous oddball family, is just one such example.

All motion pictures, animated or not, require an inordinate amount of time and work to come to fruition. They also generally cost a lot, unless it's a small, independent, by the seat of your pants production.

One would think that with the years of work necessary to create an animated movie, whether by hand or digitally, someone would identify bare bones screenplays or general weaknesses, but that didn't happen here.

Frankly, I loved the beginning of the movie, because it sort of gave us an "origin story" for this well known family, but the whole plot with the cutthroat real estate lady is a bit thin. Also, the teenage daughter who rejects her mother's influence while gravitating towards goth Wednesday is just trite, and the rap influences in the score and songs -- certainly prompted to attract a more modern audience -- are ridiculous and make the Addams look and sound absurd, which is really something!

THE BOTTOM LINE: There are plenty of options to choose from nowadays if you need to entertain the little ones, and since even they might find this boring, just do yourself a favor and go with something else.

Grade: 4