In 2021, a sequel to the animated Addams Family movie was released and while I liked it as I watched it for this blog, the more I think about it the more I realize that it is all over the map. That pun is apt as this is a road trip movie.
This is kinda funny as the very first animated Addams Family series took the family out of the mansion and had them traveling the country much like what we see in this movie. Road trip movies can be hit or miss imo. Heck, one of my all time favorite animated movies that turned thirty this year is an iconic road trip movie.
Road trip movies aren’t just about the destination and sometimes that changes along the way. Road trip movies usually have a deeper meaning and its easy means as a way to examine familial relationships especially that of parents and children. That is what we see here but there is also an ulterior motive for the road trip.
Another aspect to look at with this movie is that it shifts the focus almost completely to Wednesday. I find this interesting as not only did this movie release a year before the Wednesday tv show which made her the breakout character and Jenna Ortega the definitive version of the character but it’s a trend to focus on Wednesday the most in Addams Family stories. Consider the expanded role, she had in Addams Family Values, she is the main character of the musical as the plot is driven around and her fiancée’s families meeting. And the aforementioned tv show named after her.
I have to wonder if Wednesday is the most interesting family member to write for and that’s why we see so much focus on her. Something that has been discussed at length by others is that excerpt for the original sitcom, Wednesday is always portrayed as the older sibling. The first time I remember coming across this dynamic is the 90’s movies with Ricci in the role.
It is not an understatement to say that Ricci’s portrayal of Wednesday shaped ow the character is depicted in future adaptions. Most adaptions keep with the antisocial intellect that does not like human touch and is very moody. The musical is the exception to this but I feel that can excused as she is falling in love and they point out that Wednesday is not acting how she typically would.
With this sequel, the movie focuses on the question of if Wednesday truly is an Addams. That posits an interesting question and again is one that most children go through feeling as though they don’t belong to their family. For some children, this is something they struggle with well into adulthood.
This is what the villain of this movie preys upon attempting to play mind games with Wednesday telling her she is not an Addams.
First Appearance
We open the movie at a science fair where Wednesday is presenting a demonstration of switching brains between her pet Socrates who is a squid and Fester. Keep this mind as Fester keeps mutating growing tentacles throughout the movie.
The science fair serves as our opening and also speaks to something important with the character of Wednesday. She is smart and sometimes her smartness feels isolating whether it be her isolating herself as she does in the Netflix series or in the case of this movie feeling disconnected from her family.
Anyways, Dr. Cyrus Strange first appears at the science fair as a hologram after everyone is declared a winner and this infuriates Wednesday as in her mind not everyone can be a winner. And Cyrus Strange agrees with her and uses I to lay the foundation for his ultimate plan.
Personality
Huh in all my years covering villains, I don’t think I’ve touched upon the mad scientist type until now. I’ve covered so many villains throughout my years blogging that you think it would have come up by now but I honestly cannot think of any.
Anyways, that describes the type of villain Cyrus Strange is. He’s a mad scientist that is all about control and he has been funding these science fairs in order to get research from the students to further his unethical experiments. As we see when the Addams arrive at his house, there are two creatures who he claims to be his family but in reality they are animals that he experimented on.
Strange will stop at nothing to get what he wants and is even willing to experiment on and mutate the Addams Family by turning them into animal hybrids. While watching this movie, I couldn’t help but think of Ninja Turtles and all the strange mutations in that franchise and how horrifying that is.
Grand Desire
Strange is a type of villain that is all about control and that goes to how he is a scientist that doesn’t believe in sharing his finds but rather using his research to laud his superiority over people as he believes that science is a cold hearted task and has no place for love. This explains why he was able to prey upon Wednesday so easily.
Lackeys
Mr. Mustela and Pongo
These two are alright. Always nice to hear Wallace Shawn in something. Mustela is presented as the smarter one and Pongo the muscle Mustela appears right before the road trip starts trying to trick Gomez and Morticia into saying Wednesday isn’t their kid. This is part of what prompts the road trip. These two follow the family all throughout the country. Also I’m pretty sure Wednesday kills this guy during the movie as she catches him sneaking up on her and drops him off a cliff.
Pongo on the other hand is just muscle as I said. At first, it seems as though he is going to be adversary for Lurch but it turns out Lurch and Pongo were cellmates in the asylum Lurch was in before the parents brought Lurch on as their butler.
Most Evil Deed
While the experiments are very evil and one of the worst things one could do, imo the evilest thing that he does is drive a wedge between Wednesday and her family. While Wednesday is smart, she is still just a child and children are vulnerable. The fact that he almost successfully manipulated Wednesday into believing he was her father is such a heinous action.
Demise
The family is saved from tubes from being mutated and the green goo that was going to mutate them lands on the mad doctor and turns him into a weird animal hybrid. Remember how I mentioned Uncle Fester had been mutating, he returns as a squid/human hybrid and the movie ends with a kaiju fight with Fester winning against the mad doctor knocking him out of his lab at the cost of his life but thanks to o necklace Wednesday was given by Morticia containing the blood of very Addams, she is able to save her uncle.
Is Dr. Cyrus Strange a Good Villain?
He’s decent enough. Honestly, we’ve only looked at one outright bad villain during this event. I do like this villain and he is a more malicious villain than the previous villain.
Well, that’s is every Addams Family movie villain covered and I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey
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