Review: 'The Addams Family 2' puts the macabre clan on the road, where the laughs are abundant

The animated sequel “The Addams Family 2” improves on its predecessor in much the same way 1993’s “Addams Family Values” did to the 1991 live-action version. Maybe movies about the ghoulish Addams Family work like the old “Star Trek” franchise, where the even-numbered ones were the good ones.

Like “Addams Family Values,” the animated sequel centers on someone trying to exploit a rift within the solid-as-a-gravestone cohesion of the Addams clan. This time, it’s middle-school genius Wednesday (voiced by Chloë Grace Moretz), feeling suffocated by the doting attention of her father, Gomez (voiced by Oscar Isaac), as she demonstrates her science-fair project — grafting the intelligence of her pet squid, Socrates, into her none-too-bright Uncle Fester (voiced by Nick Kroll).

The science fair is a disappointment for Wednesday, because Gomez and Morticia (voiced by Charlize Theron) showed up, and because the powers that be declared everyone a winner. Wednesday is assuaged somewhat when Cyrus Strange (voiced by Bill Hader), the tech billionaire who sponsors the science fair, praises her originality and genius.

A fretful Gomez grasps at straws to find a way to bond with his precious daughter, landing on the idea of a cross-country family vacation. Wednesday hates the idea, but is soon swept up in Gomez’ eager efforts to create some bonding time at such tourist havens as Salem, Mass., Niagara Falls and Death Valley. What Wednesday doesn’t know is that Gomez is also hiding something on this trip: The claims of a lawyer (voiced by Wallace Shawn) representing an unknown client, who believes Wednesday was switched for another baby in the maternity ward.

As the family drives their frightful RV across the country, Wednesday comforts herself by torturing her brother, Pugsley (voiced by Javon “Wanna” Walton), while Fester discovers Wednesday’s squid experiment has some unpredicted side effects.

Directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon find lots of good humor in the weirdness of this strange family, and the script (by Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit) mines Wednesday’s alienation angst for some genuinely funny moments. The writers also pepper the narrative with jokes that might sail over the small viewers’ heads, but land appreciatively with the older members of the audience. (Example: The signpost in Death Valley, pointing to such slasher-film locations as Crystal Lake and Elm Street.)

“The Addams Family 2” doesn’t hit the comic heights that Paul Rudnick’s satiric script for “Addams Family Values” did. But it does show sparks of wit and absurdity that the first animated film lacked, and proves that there may be some life in this thought-to-be-undead franchise after all.

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‘The Addams Family 2’

★★★

Opens Friday, October 1, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for macabre and rude humor, violence and mild language. Running time: 93 minutes.