Movie review
October 1, 2021 · 93 min · PG · Kids · Fantasy · Animation · Comedy · Adventure · Family
The Addams family packs into a haunted camper for a road trip across America. Gomez and Morticia worry their kids are growing apart from them, especially smart, moody Wednesday. A shady lawyer claims Wednesday was switched at birth, and a mad scientist tries to trick her into leaving her family. The tone is loud kids’ comedy with dark jokes, monster gags, and a simple family-love story.
This movie mostly sells goofy travel chaos and the idea that family is about love and belonging, not a lab test. Wednesday is a brilliant young scientist, which fits her long-running character. The story talks about feeling different and accepting weird family members, but it does not push race, gender, queer, or modern activist politics as the main point. Casting is mostly the usual pale gothic Addams look, with some celebrity voices. Normal viewers would mainly see a silly road-trip sequel, not a strong social-justice film.
Community feedback
Was our 22% Woke rating accurate?
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Addams Family 2.
Woke representation / casting
Main characters keep classic pale gothic designs. Common Sense Media says the cast mostly looks White, with limited cultural inclusion. Snoop Dogg voices hairy Cousin Itt as celebrity casting. Javon Walton revoices Pugsley after a prior actor’s voice changed; that is not a clear on-screen race rewrite of the kid’s look. Wednesday’s smarts match franchise history, not new identity-first casting.
12%
Woke political dialogue
Dialogue pushes family bonding, honesty, and soft “accept differences” kids-movie lines. No widely reported race, gender, queer, climate, or DEI speeches. A Christian review claims some political messaging remains from the first film’s lane, but specific activist slogans are not a defining trait of this sequel.
10%
Identity-driven story themes
The plot uses Wednesday feeling like an outsider and a DNA/paternity con to ask what makes someone “really” family. Parent guides stress unconditional love and accepting different personalities. That is light, background progressive-friendly messaging about belonging, not a race/gender/queer identity campaign or modern activist lecture.
22%
Western institutional / cultural critique
Classic Addams jokes poke at “normal” people and tourist America. A Texas beauty-pageant bit (with a Carrie-style paint gag) mocks pageant culture. That is mild outsider satire and Southern/pageant ribbing, not a hard attack on Christianity, capitalism, or modern “toxic masculinity” ideology.
18%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. Pugsley’s recast is explained as a voice-change issue. No clear DEI-driven race, gender, or sexuality rewrite of established Addams characters for this film.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No major, widely reported anti-woke backlash treats this sequel as a DEI or identity-politics push. Public talk stayed on quality, tone, and kids-comedy taste. Culture-war heat sits elsewhere in the franchise.
0%
Creator track record context
Cached scores: directors low (Vernon 16, Tiernan 0); writers mostly low with Fogel higher (34); producers mixed, with Gilbert (37) and Glickman (32) the stronger diversity advocates. Overall track record is mild commercial animation plus limited progressive-adjacent producer/writer signals, not a heavy activist slate.
18%
Production
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