This is a dark comedy concerning Wednesday Addams, who after almost killing several high school kids at another school, is transferred to a small town where a little dark mystery is entangled within a private school that was erected in the nearby woods, oh-so-many years ago. Wednesday is forced to adjust her dark, Gothic lifestyle with her new roommate, played brilliantly by Lindhome. The school is filled with a variety of "gifted" students - think of the Harry Potter variety - and the schools once separated inner-school clubs must begin to work together to solve who is killing both the locals and their own classmates, plus save the school from being shut down. This series has it all for the young audiences; romance, drama, comedy, and of course, Gothic tones of dread.
THE GOOD - The casting gives this series a ton of strength; I was particularly shocked to see Christie playing a proverbial rich and powerful principal and doing her job brilliantly with her English accent. The part of "The Thing" - the hand that runs loosely throughout the series as both a confidante and a spy, was wonderfully choreographed to life in a style all its own. Zeta-Jones played her part brilliantly, the camera loving the closeups of her, but it felt like she didn't go past what was only desired of her performance. Ortega was the prime example of what to expect from today's youthful actor. It is said that she had to learn fencing, boxing and even learning how to play the cello to make her character breath into life. I expect to see more from her in other film and series project. But my heart reached out to Lindhome, who presented her characters emotions through some memorable facial expressions. The two young actors carried this series to the next level, making the show fun, dark, and very mysterious at every turn.
THE BAD - I'm not a huge Tim Burton fan, but with all of the details of costumes and set locations, I wasn't impressed with the CGI in the series. The creature effects seemed a little too animated with an exaggerated "cartoon-like" look and feel to them. Perhaps this was done to keep the younger teens and children involved in trying to solve the mystery with the cast of the series? Either way, the CGI seemed to hurt the production more than help it.
POST MORTEM - Burton should be very proud that this is the BEST series production he's been part of in a long time. I've truly never been impressed with the endings to many of his past films, but this series developed well and delivered an ending that demands some serious attention. There was some fine acting by the young-lings and the veteran actors in the film stepped back and filled in only when needed. I expected a second season, for sure, but I also expect that many of the upstart actors have just kicked the doors open to their new careers as leading actors!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ [5 of 5 Stars]
