The Addams Family (2019)

I was worried that this version of the longtime satirical weirdos would be defanged by being a film made with a children’s audience in mind. I need not have been worried. This animated installment of the franchise doesn’t rise to the levels of the earlier, live-action films from the early ‘90s—still classics of the dark humor genre to my mind—but it delivers enough genuine laughs that anyone can feel comfortable with this version of the characters. The standout, as usual, is Wednesday; she seems to be the character the whole concept revolves around, and as such all the best moments belong to her and her story. There are some faults; the humor could be a bit more dry and droll in places, and a few musical choices could be better. (Honestly, does every even vaguely creative work now need to be drenched in rap music?) Plus, the denouement is a bit timid, probably due to the family nature of the target audience; you’d like to see the villain hit a little harder in the end, but ... you know, the kids. Still, there’s enough to like here that the flaws can be overlooked. It may not be a total snap, but this is at least a song that’s catchy enough.

Treasure Planet

As soon as I saw the rocket propelled wind-surfboard, I knew there was trouble. That item shows up as merely one bit of hopeful patronizing toward an intended--presumably uncritical--audience of children; other aspects of the production are not just trend-chasing but actual baffling decisions. The story here is a proven winner--Stevenson’s Treasure Island has been a classic for about a century and a half at this point--so the make or break with this picture had to come from how that story was presented. The filmmakers could have gone with a straightforward retelling, hewing to the original work. Or they could have presented an updated version, one set in a future in space but otherwise recognizably the same as the source, with a spot of alien presence interwoven into a human tale. But making it story with one primary human character, and everyone else, good or bad, is a total freakshow weirdo? That decision is really hard to grasp for this viewer. It simply doesn’t work for most of the characters--even the protagonist’s allies--to be, essentially, monsters. Further, having the  story's setting happening in space, yet still giving most of the infrastructure a pronounced 18th-century look and vibe just comes across as strange and distracting, not as a particularly clever or creative bit of blandishment. (If they’re sailing through space, on a tall ship with no particular atmospheric containment going, how is everyone not immediately asphyxiating, if not actually exploding from the vacuum? Any viewer with even the mildest scientific frame of mind will have trouble setting that aside.) Finally, the kid-directed aspects of the movie--including a silly shapeshifter character--grow tedious very fast, as does the shifts in tone from high action to maudlin sentimentality. There’s just enough of positive elements in here to hold the viewer's interest--mostly that happens where the film hews to the original tale--but overall, this work has conceptual issues it just can’t overcome. Best to let this ship sail without you.

Frankenweenie

I hate to be the one to have to say this, but this movie lacked a certain spark. The film had some nice touches--the Japanese kid and Gamera reference, for instance--but with a filmmaker as accomplished as Tim Burton involved, nice touches are the least you can expect. One interesting element was the undercurrent about the failure of U.S. society to appreciate and develop science and scientists, but it was little more than a couple of throwaway comments. I guess kids will enjoy it, but even then, I’m not so sure (they might not get why this film is in black and white, for instance; old references are lost on the young). Otherwise, it probably depends on how much you dig Burton and his oeuvre. Your call.