The Addams Family (film)
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The Addams Family is a 1991 comedy film based on the popular characters, The Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams.
The movie was originally developed by Orion Pictures (which at the time owned the rights to the television series on which the movie was based). However, due to the studio's financial problems, Paramount took over production and ended up releasing the movie.
The Addamses are a family of wealthy and eccentric individuals who live together in a Second Empire mansion and share a common interest in the bizarre and the macabre. The characters first appeared in cartoons in The New Yorker magazine in the 1930s, and later gained popularity in the defunct TV series, The Addams Family. The film centers around the day to day life of the family, and the return of Gomez Addams's long-lost brother Fester, played by Christopher Lloyd. The film also stars Raúl Juliá, Anjelica Huston, and Christina Ricci.
Plot
The film opens with Gomez (Juliá) reflecting miserably on all the years he has lost with his absent brother Fester, whom he has not seen for 25 years. However, his corrupt lawyer notices the resemblance Fester bears to his loan shark's son Gordon.
Armed with a skin-head hairstyle and various home-made explosives, "Fester" arrives at the house with a plan to steal the family fortune, his disappearance explained as a freak accident that trapped him in the Bermuda Triangle with amnesia until the loan shark saved him. His ignorance of family history though, including a deep feud between himself and Gomez, their secret password, and the combination which unlocks the door to their secret place, makes Gomez suspicious. However, as the film progresses, Fester shows more and more Addams tendencies: he breaks up a sword fight between his niece and nephew telling them that they should "aim for a major artery" and demonstrates a tremendous knowledge of explosives.
At a family reunion, a chance remark to the lawyer makes the conspirators realize that the family house and fortune are owned by the eldest sibling. With a judge in their pocket, the pair declare Gordon to be the owner of the estate and place a restraining order on Gomez. However, without the help of the other Addamses, they are forced to kidnap Morticia to try and torture her for the correct password and combination. Gomez comes to the rescue, but all is presumed lost, until the loan shark lets slip the real truth: Gordon really is Fester, the story behind his disappearance and rescue being actual events that rendered him amnesiatic (and, without his memory, more 'normal' than the rest of his family). Shocked at this deception, and having grown too fond of his newly refound family to allow their fortune to be stolen, Fester grabs a 'living' book about storms from the bookshelf and opens it, blowing the loan shark and the laywer out of the house and getting struck in the head by lighting, which reverses the amnesia that has caused him to forget his childhood. United, the brothers regain their house. The film ends with Morticia (Huston) announcing her pregnancy.
Differences from the television series
The film differs from the show in many ways, with the most noticeable changes being Fester becoming Gomez's brother. Also, the show's famous original opening theme is missing, replaced with a shortened instrumental version over the film's title card.
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