Search - Addams Family Values on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG-13 Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Profanity Movie Release: 1993 DVD Release: 02/22/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Special Collection Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 34 mins Studio: Paramount Members Wishing: 21 Genres: Comedy, Black Comedy, Domestic Comedy

The ghoulish cartoon family created by Charles Addams returns for a second big-screen outing darker and nastier than the first. When Morticia Addams (Anjelica Huston) gives birth to new baby boy Pubert, the other Addams children, Pugsley (Jimmy Workman) and Wednesday (Christina Ricci), devise any number of ways to kill off their new sibling. This leads Morticia and her husband, Gomez Raul Julia, to hire a nanny (Joan Cusack) to oversee all three children. But the nanny has an agenda of her own, packing the Addams children off to a horrid parody of summer camp and setting out to seduce Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd), all with the goal of getting her hands on the Addams family fortune. Of course, the Addams eventually triumph, with this blacker-than-most satire extolling the virtues of eccentricity and non-conformity above all. It was followed by 1999's direct-to-video Addams Family Reunion, with Darryl Hannah and Tim Curry replacing Huston and the late Julia. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Anjelica Huston - Morticia Addams
Raul Julia - Gomez Addams
Christopher Lloyd - Uncle Fester Addams
Joan Cusack - Debbie Jelinsky
Christina Ricci - Wednesday Addams

Paramount's DVD release of Barry Sonnenfeld's The Addams Family Values utilizes the qualities most admired by DVD converts: namely, 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio. The former is particularly impressive, allowing the image to be conveyed in the sharpest of detail and showcasing the movie's rich palette of colors. The audio track is similarly impeccable, with the film's musical score balanced throughout all channels. Unfortunately, Paramount has failed to provide any features such as biographies, filmographies, or production notes, though two versions of the original theatrical trailer and optional subtitles are included. Given the rich history of the Addams Family, more background in the form of storyboards or references to the original comic strip would have been welcome. That said, =Addams Family Values is still a terrific buy for fans as well as newcomers to the story as it contains all the key elements for an entertaining product: good ideas, good performances, and an ironic sense of reality. ~ Marsha Mehran, All Movie Guide