“The Addams Family 2” carries on the fun with perhaps America’s weirdest sitcom family. The animation is first-rate and the story should resonate with children trying to figure out who they are and what their place is in the world.

Wednesday Addams (Chloe Grace Moretz) has entered the science fair. Her project involves sending positive intelligence traits from one species to another, in this case from an octopus to Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll). Her experiment is a success as Fester successfully solves a Rubik’s cube.

When it is time to hand out awards, a hologram of famed researcher Cyrus Strange (Bill Hader), the sponsor of the fair, appears. Wednesday steps into the limelight to receive her anticipated first-place award. She is horrified when everyone receives a participation prize instead of actual merit-based awards. Strange, impressed by her experiment, recruits Wednesday to join his science team but she declines. The affair ends when her brother Pugsley (Javon Walton) uses explosives to set the facility on fire.

Wednesday was displeased to see her family at the science fair when she explicitly had told them not to attend. She refuses to come down to dinner once more. Gomez (Oscar Isaac), her father, is concerned that he is becoming distanced from his daughter. His wife Morticia (Charlize Theron) thinks that he is making too much of the situation.

Gomez hits on the brilliant idea of a family road trip to bond the family together. A large RV-like camper that appears to be like the TARDIS inside in terms of space is loaded up by Lurch for the vacation. Even Kitty Cat the pet lion is coming along.

Just as they are about to leave with Thing driving, an attorney (Wallace Shawn) for Cyrus Strange shows up seeking a DNA sample from Wednesday. He claims that there was a baby swap involving her at the hospital where she was born. Morticia and Gomez think that this is a ploy by Wednesday to avoid going on the trip, so they laugh it off and ignore him.

On the road, we are treated to the Addams enjoying a variety of locales. These include Niagara Falls; Miami, where they pick up Cousin It (Snoop Dogg); San Antonio; and the Grand Canyon. There are some nice touches such as a beauty pageant in Texas, going over the Falls in a barrel, and using explosives in the Grand Canyon.

At each of these stops, the attorney and his beefy henchman attempt to get Wednesday. Morticia and Gomez soon realize that Wednesday did not hire this attorney as a ruse to get out of the trip.

Worse, while camping in Sleepy Hollow, Fester tells a story of how he went into the hospital room where Wednesday and the other babies were. When some started to cry, Fester juggled them into silence. He is reasonably sure that he put all of the babies back into the right beds.

Wednesday through eavesdropping soon knows that she may have been switched at birth. This would explain why she doesn’t fit in with her family very well. So she and Lurch set out on foot to go to Sausalito to see Cyrus Strange and find out who she truly is.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed to see no mention of what happened in the original 2019 animated feature. The struggle against and the eventual reconciliation with the nearby town of Assimilation still had more potential to be explored. Perhaps though Wednesday’s participation in the science fair was a nod to the fact that the Addams Family indeed now were accepted into the community.

In any case, the decision to set the movie’s plot as an extended road trip with the family was a brilliant plot choice. It gave the animators a chance to create new landscapes other than the famed Gothic home of the Addams family. Their depiction of the Grand Canyon in particular is very picturesque.

The original Addams Family television show was a sitcom, albeit with a very unusual family. But it is important to remember that it is a sitcom and as such is going to mine familiar tropes of the genre.

In this case, the issue of a child feeling like they do not belong or fit in with their family is a tried-and-true theme. Here it has been updated to include the marvels of DNA in determining paternity and maternity. There is a marvelous scene with Wednesday and Cousin It where he discusses his own issues at her age. Of course we hear Wednesday’s recapitulation of his thoughts as he is incomprehensible.

The other major theme is the importance of family in one’s life. Gomez and Morticia truly love their children and want everyone to feel included and wanted. Every family seems to have their quirks. In the Addams Family we see these anomalies writ large in such a comical way that perhaps we can see how we over-exaggerate certain differences in our own families.

One part of the plot that did irk me was Wednesday’s constant tormenting of Pugsley. Of course she is able to use voodoo and magic to harass him so this may seem funny and resonant to children with sibling rivalries. But I found that after a while, it became old and tiresome.

As usual, the animators did an excellent job portraying the various oddities of the Addams house and travel vehicle. The choice of music also was well-done from “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead to Lurch singing “I Will Survive” on the piano at a biker bar.

Chloe Grace Moretz has Wednesday’s voice down pat. It is consistently deadpan. Bill Hader also shines as the almost manic, upbeat Cyrus Strange.

The violence in this movie is cartoonish and so I do not believe that it will frighten children. Neither do I think that they will use a voodoo doll to get at another family member. There are a couple of possible deaths but one is handled off-screen and another is minimized by a humorous running gag involving a man proposing to a woman. There is virtually no potty humor.

The visual ingenuity and themes should appeal to both older children and adults.

Three and a half out of five stars

Everyone’s favorite spooky family is back in the animated comedy sequel, The Addams Family 2. In this all new movie we find Morticia and Gomez distraught that their children are growing up, skipping family dinners, and totally consumed with “scream time.” To reclaim their bond they decide to cram Wednesday, Pugsley, Uncle Fester and the crew into their haunted camper and hit the road for one last miserable family vacation. Their adventure across America takes them out of their element and into hilarious run-ins with their iconic cousin, IT, as well as many new kooky characters. What could possibly go wrong?

CAST: Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Kroll, Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, Wallace Shawn, with Snoop Dogg as ‘IT’, with Bette Midler and Bill Hader
DIRECTED BY: Greg Tiernan
DIRECTED BY: Conrad Vernon
SCREENPLAY BY: Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit and Ben Queen and Susanna Fogel
STORY BY: Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit

BASED ON CHARACTERS BY: Charles Addams