Addams Family Values

As sequels go, this one is really quite good fun. The arrival of baby "Pubert" doesn't exactly thrill "Wednesday" (Christina Ricci) nor "Pugsley" (Jimmy Workman) and they determine that he has to go! Meantime, parents "Morticia" (Anjelica Huston) and "Gomez" (Raul Julia) decide that they need to get him a nanny - and they alight on "Debbie" (Joan Cusack) who immediately sets her sights on "Uncle Fester" (Christopher Lloyd). The children are sent to one of those horrible summer camps run by the kumbaya brigade where they don't quite fit in with the curriculum of the nauseatingly gloopy "Becky" (Christine Baranksi) and her abundance of twee students straight out of "Little House on the Prairie". Scene set for some deliciously dark antics as the kids must escape from the monstrousness of their retreat - causing a maximum of damage and delivering quite a potent assessment of the plight of the native American en route - and deal with their domestic interloper. Speaking of interlopers, it's also clear that nanny has quite a malevolent streak of her own - and "Fester" might soon be destined to join her long list of deceased spouses. As ever, it's Huston who steals the show here - she barely features, but when she does she imbues the whole thing with a certain menacing dignity. The rest of the ensemble work well together and the story is peppered with plenty of daft (adult) humour, a little bit of gentle slapstick and "Lurch" (Carer Struycken) is there to keep order. There's plenty of attention to the detailed look of the film and in the end I was was probably with the siblings about the young "Pubert"!