I hadn't seen this film in years and it holds up quite well. The story involves gold-digging black widow Joan Cusack worming her way into the family by way of seducing Christopher Lloyd's Uncle Fester. Cusack then tricks Gomez and Morticia into thinking Pugsley and Wednesday want to go to summer camp, which results in the film's funniest moments, mainly of which involve super enthusiastic and positive camp counselors Peter MacNicole and Christine Baranski trying to convert the two glum children into Shiny Happy People. My favorite part of their conversion therapy is when they're forced to watch the John Huston film version of "Annie." The film cuts between Pugsley and Wednesday's adventures at camp with Cusack plotting to kill Fester and take the family fortune. Both stories are quite funny, but the camp moments are especially good. The funniest moment of the camp storyline, and probably the film in general, is when the campers perform a re-enactment of the "First Thanksgiving" where all of the blond hair, blue eyed campers play the Pilgrims and the camp misfits play the Indians, when Wednesday, a scene stealing 12-year old Christina Ricci, as Pocahontas and her awkward boyfriend go off-script, turning this syrupy (and historically invacuate) play into a story or revenge for the future evils perpetrated upon Native Americans by these European immigrants, complete with Wednesday's crew burning the village set to the ground and burning Pilgrim leader Mercedes McNab at the stake. Although Riccci clearly steal the film, the rest of the cast is pretty amazing as well, including Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams and Raul Julia as Gomez Addams, Carol Kane as Grandma, and supporting parts for Sam McMurray, Nathan Lane, Cynthia Nixon, David Hyde Piers, Peter Graves, and Tony Shalhoub. The film is not quite a comedy classic, but it's undeniably entertaining and more darkly funny than most Hollywood comedies.

I really liked the first film, but I think this one is even better. It's much more entertaining and more funny than the first, especially all the camp scenes. I think anyone can watch it, even if they haven't seen the first film as this one is much better.

Addams Family Values is a very poor movie with a brutally paced plot and a few talented cast members that could have done so much netter. The actors do their very best, with Angelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd and Christina Ricci still shining in their respective roles, however, they were not enough to save this movie, which tries to hard to stand out from the first Addams family that it forgets to even tell a story. A lot of comments are far too much for a younger audience, such as Wednesday mentioning that her parents have had intercourse, or the antagonist's torture chamber, it is far too frightening for the films target audience. On the other hand, the humour is also too childish for the most part, such as the Addams new baby causing havoc and the entire camping plot, leaving nothing for adults to have a chuckle at. Loud, obnoxious and not funny, Addams Family Values is too childish for adults, and too adult for kids, better off avoiding this. The family must rescue their uncle from a new love. Best Performance: Raul Julia / Worst Performance: Joan Cusack

Now a perennial broadcast on television every fall, it's difficult to remember that Values did quite poorly at the box office - opening moderately well before having its legs cut off the following week by Mrs Doubtfire. Paul Rudnick who did an uncredited rewrite on the first film, fills his script with hilarious one liners and macabre wit throughout and while the film is basically episodic, the comedic set pieces always work. The casting is perfection and the leads elevate the simplest joke with their committed and fantastic performances. New addition Joan Cusack is hysterical as the black widow with her lethal sights on Fester. The visuals and art direction are great and the film has energy to burn. With the exception of an embarrassingly bad end credits song, Addams Family Values is the rare sequel that works better than its predecessor.