MOVIE PREVIEWS
THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2
Rated: PG
Release Date: 10/01/2021
Production Company: MGM/United Artists Releasing

Cast:
Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Kroll, Javon Walton, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler and Bill Hader.

Crew:
Director: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon and Laura Brousseau. Producers: Gail Berman, Alison O'Brien, Danielle Sterling and Conrad Vernon. Executive Producers: Jason Cloth, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jonathan Glickman, Cassidy Lange, Kevin Miseirochi and Andrew Mittman.
Plot:
By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

The beloved Addams Family are still creepy and kooky as ever in the wacky follow-up “The Addams Family 2.” The movie tries hard to be as mysteriously entertaining as the 2019 original. For the most part it succeeds.

There are enough laugh out loud moments for kids of all ages to appreciate. However, you can’t overstate that nostalgia contributes to much of the enjoyment of “The Addams Family 2.”
This time around the “ooky” clan have some major family issues to sort through. It all starts when Wednesday (voiced by Chloe Grace Moretz, TV’s “BoJack Horseman”) becomes the talk of her class after debuting a science project that involves transferring the brain of her pet octopus into Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll, TV’s “Big Mouth”). It’s heady stuff for a kid and Wednesday is shocked that everyone in her class received a participation trophy. Clearly her presentation was better than all the rest.

Wednesday is so bothered by the turn of events that she shuns all her father Gomez’s (Oscar Isaac, “Dune”) feel good niceties. Sensing that the family is drifting further apart, Gomez and his wife Morticia (Charlize Theron, “F9: The Fast Saga”) decide to pack up the haunted camper and take Wednesday, Pugsley (Javon “Wanna” Walton, TV’s “Utopia”), Uncle Fester and Lurch (Conrad Vernon, “The Boss Baby”) on a trip of a lifetime across America that includes Death Valley--one of their favorite hotspots no doubt-- Miami, Texas, the Grand Canyon and beautiful Sausalito, California.

Their plans are interrupted by a pesky and unscrupulous lawyer named Rupert Strange (Wallace Shawn, TV’s “Young Sheldon”) who claims that Wednesday isn’t part of this family. He has sinister reasons for tricking her into believing otherwise and follows the Addams Family to prove his point.

The majority of “The Addams 2” centers around that plotline as well as the crazy characters leaving their comfort zone and freaking out the regular folk they encounter.
The big scene-stealer is the pimped out, shaggy, and hairy Cousin Itt who is played by a funny Snoop Dogg, TV’s “BMF”). Even Bette Midler brings a few laughs as the partygoing Grandma.

“The Addams Family 2” moves at a decent clip. My biggest complaint is that the film doesn’t feature the original Vic Mizzy theme song and instead offers a disappointing rap/hip-hop version of it.

Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.

Watch This Trailer For "THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2"

Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA), The American Film Institute (AFI), and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.

OLD SCHOOL VIDEO PICK OF THE MONTH

<b>MAHOGANY</b> Title: MAHOGANY
Year Released: 1975
Running Time: 109
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Director: Berry Gordy, Tony Richardson and Jack Wormser
Director of Photography: David Watkin
Screenwriter: John Byrum and Toni Amber
Author: Lana K. Wilson-Combs

REVIEW: DIANA ROSS AND BILLY DEE WILLIAMS DAZZLE IN "MAHOGANY"

Do you know where you're going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you? Where are you going to?
Do you know?
Do you get what you're hoping for? When you look behind you, there's no open doors. What are you hoping for? Do you know? "Theme from Mahogany...
  MOVIE TRIVIA
 
The "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" was sung by Diana Ross in the 1975 movie "Mahogany." But, who initially recorded the song in 1973?
"Roberta Flack"
"Natalie Cole"
"Deniece Williams"
"Thelma Houston"