Nobody does Goth better than Tim Burton. And Goth is very much a staple when it comes to anything Addams Family. With Burton at the helm of the new Wednesday series on Netflix, I was sold.
Synopsis
We meet young Wednesday (played by the talented Jenna Ortega) as she is expelled from her current school and moved to a school for outcasts and misfits. The self-appointed loner checks in to Nevermore school for outcast and misfits. Her mother Morticia, hopes that the school will help her learn and control her newfound psychic abilities. Of course, it is never that simple…
Within the school lurks a mysterious monster that is on a killing spree. It will be up to her to uncover the truth and solve the murder mystery.
Showtime
Having the show wrapped inside the throes of a murder mystery was pure genius. It allows the show to fully demonstrate the sheer awe of the girl named Wednesday. Having it in a boarding school was just icing.
The show is very well written, with mountains of character development and believe or not comedic timing. Though it may come as no surprise that the comedy is darker than little miss Addams eye liner. The show also keeps the rest of the family away. At first, I thought this would hurt the show. Boy was I wrong.
We get to meet a string of new fascinating characters that slowly embed themselves in Wednesday’s life. It very much has traces of a Harry Potter at Hogwarts vibe to it.
Cast
Jenna Ortega stuns us with her performance of Wednesday Addams. I will go as far as saying it is better than Christina Ricci’s performance way back when. Who, by the way has guest spot in the series? (see if you can spot her in episode 1). Her ability to create this tougher than nails girl yet still show tiny traces of emotion is brilliant. She delivers with such maturity. Jenna manages to go full teen angst yet win the heart of the audience.
When it comes to the rest of the cast, it is not as good. Luis Guzmán who plays Gomez Addams seems so out of place in this cast. Do not get me wrong, I love him in comedies, but he just does not fit well her. I suppose Raul Julia set the bar too high. He just seems to lack the suave the Julia brought to the table.
Catherine Zeta-Jones takes on the ever-sexy role of Morticia Addams. She is not bad, but I feel she got her ratio wrong. Anjelica Huston had the perfect balance of sultry and psychotic. Catherine dials up the sultry but downplays the more morbid side, which hurts the character.
Emma Myers (Enid Sinclair) is the ying to Wednesday’s yang, and she does a bang-up job. A nice little touch was her Harley Quinn hair, which augments here very bubbly personality. She really does bring pep back.
The rest of the new characters present a very strong cast that we hope to see for many more seasons.
Review
The spooky show has more than a few twists and turns as we make our way through the 8-episode arc. I am pretty good at figuring out murders in these types of films. This time though my hunches where off. Every time I thought I had it mapped out; it pulled the rug from underneath me. Therefore, I am in love with the show. The Rolle roaster does have some nice finale payoffs and set ups for the inevitable second season.
The show is a must see for almost everyone regardless of genres. It is fantastically written, and the cinematics are fabulous. Barring a few scenes where it very much feels like a tv show, the series has a very big screen budget vibe. This is not on the CGI aspect but rather the production quality.
Wednesday has come to cut us open and snatch our hearts away.
