Most of us know The Addams Family as a black-and-white sitcom that ran for two seasons in the mid-60′s. A younger generation might be more familiar with the early-90′s movies. The family took on cartoon form in both the 70′s and 90′s. And this year the Addams clan even became a Broadway musical.
Before all of that though, the Addams Family was a single panel cartoon. The brainchild of Charles Addams, the comic was first published in The New Yorker in 1938.
But yet another incarnation is on the horizon. A 3D stop-motion animated version, to be directed by Tim Burton. This no doubt comes as great news to his fans, who look forward to being treated to another dose of typically twisted and macabre Burton style. But for everyone else, well… I can hear the collected groan of “Here we go again.”
With each new film, there builds a Burton backlash, criticizing his predictable habits of taking an old story and retelling it with a gothic twist. And of course with a cast of regulars that include Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (who incidentally already played the leads in his last stop-motion flick, Corpse Bride). Even the use of 3D seems cliche already.
College Humor pretty much nailed the elements of a Burton movie with this spoof: Tim Burton’s Secret Formula “Dead dog, gnarled old tree, spiral staircase, evil queen, scarecrows, spiders, pumpkins, clowns, Danny Elfman theme!”
For April Fool’s Day, Bloody Disgusting reported that Burton and Depp were also taking on a remake of Little Shop of Horrors. Not too hard to believe, is it?
Don’t think I’m picking on ol’ Timmy with these comments, because the cliche elements that some people find tiresome are usually the exact reasons his movies appeal to me. Sure, his career has had its share of hits and misses. But considering the amount of Tim Burton pumpkin patterns available on this site, it’s pretty clear that I’m a fan.
Still, I do miss the early Burton, where his stories were his own. He came out of the gate strong with Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands. But these days everything seems to be a remake of something from the past like Alice, Charlie and the Apes.
A couple things give me hope for the new Addams project. First, the fact that it will be stop-motion animation. Corpse Bride seems to indicate that he may never capture the lightning in a bottle that was The Nightmare Before Christmas. But still, you just don’t see that animation technique used these days, so that will add to its unique-factor.
And secondly, the film will supposedly be based directly on the original Charles Addams comics. Which hopefully means the characters will look like their original incarnation, and have the same sharp wit and satirical commentary, rather than simple morbid puns or John Astin impressions.
