MGM has revealed the cast and plot for its animated Addams Family movie, along with the first official artwork. The creepy and kooky Addams Family originated in a series of single panel cartoons drawn for The New Yorker in the 1930s, but have since made the jump to cartoon TV series, live-action TV shows, and even live-action movies over the decades since then. Tim Burton is (unsurprisingly) among the Addams’ biggest fans and was loosed attached to direct a stop-motion Addams Family movie back in the late 2000s, but the film never made it past the early development stage.
Now, however, the Addams Family is getting computer animated on the big screen, under the watchful eyes of Sausage Party directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon. It was previously reported that Oscar Isaac - a popular fan pick to play Addams patriarch Gomez in a live-action film - was in talks to voice Gomez in the animated movie, but there hadn’t been any updates on that front until today. MGM has now confirmed Isaac’s involvement, as part of a larger announcement that revealed the entire voice cast and plot for the project.
According to MGM’s press release, The Addams Family voice cast includes Charlize Theron as Addams matriarch Morticia, Chloë Grace Moretz as their daughter Wednesday, Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard as their son Pugsley, Nick Kroll as Uncle Fester, Bette Midler as Grandma Addams, and newly minted Oscar-winner Allison Janney as Margaux Needler, the Addams’ “arch nemesis” in the film. MGM further revealed artwork of the all-together kooky family in the movie, along with the following synopsis and character descriptions:
Based on the famous New Yorker creations of Charles Addams, this animated action-comedy will follow the Addams family whose lives begin to unravel when they face-off against a crafty reality-TV host while also preparing for their extended family to arrive for a major celebration, Addams-style.
Morticia, devilishly devoted to her husband and children, is the pale glue that holds her clan together. Gomez, debonair, sinister and passionately in love with his wife, is enthusiastic about whatever dreadful scheme he’s cooked up. Wednesday is a brilliant and sinister teenage girl with long braids and dead-pan wit. Pugsley, a menacing 10 year old on over-drive, enjoys getting into any kind of dreadful mischief he can find. Mad Uncle Fester is good natured, merry and likes to create mayhem any way he can. Grandmama is smitten with her grandchildren who enjoy her cookies shaped like bats and skulls. Margaux Needler, the reality TV makeover queen, is consumed with a desire for absolute suburban, pastel perfection.
It further sounds like the animated Addams Family movie - which was written by newcomer Matt Lieberman - will play out as an origin story for the mysterious and spooky clan. Specifically, in his own statement, Vernon says that the film will “tell the story of how Gomez and Morticia meet, find their house and start their family.” He also noted that the original New Yorker cartoons drawn by Charles Addams were a major inspiration for the aesthetic and overall look of the movie, which he also promises will take an “unique approach” to realizing the Addams and their darkly zany misadventures on the big screen.
As pitch-perfect as they arguably would have been in a live-action Addams Family movie, the cast for the animated film is nevertheless great and should help to breathe fresh life into their respective characters here. Tiernan and Vernon are similarly intriguing picks to call the shots on this project, given their proven knack for idiosyncratic humor and off-beat animated storytelling sensibilities. It remains to be seen if the story here is equally up to snuff, given that quasi-prequels of this variety can be real hit or miss in their approaches. So far though, Addams Family appears to have just the right amount of satirical flavor to hit its target.
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Source: MGM
- Addams Family Release Date: 2019-10-11 The Addams Family Release Date: 2019-10-11
