Tim Burton’s family show Addams is a mixed bag

Dust off the cobwebs, the Addams family is back.

The latest release is the new Netflix series Wednesday, an episodic teen high school dramedy directed by Tim Burton.

It’s a supernatural mystery about Wednesday Addams’ time as a student at Nevermore Academy, where her parents met and fell in love.

In this institution of “outcasts, freaks, and monsters,” cynical goth girl Wednesday (Jenna Ortega, “Jane the Virgin”) tries to control her burgeoning psychic abilities; dealing with relationships with her classmates and tensions between school and town; confronting her cheerful roommate, Enid (Emma Myers); and solve a mystery her parents got caught up in two decades ago.

Oh, and there’s a monster too.

Her classmates include queen bee Bianca (Joy Sunday) and sensitive boy Xavier (Percy Hynes White) – but as a twist, many of them are werewolves, vampires and sirens.

Rounding out the cast are Catherine Zeta-Jones as matriarch Morticia Addams, Luis Guzman as Gomez, and Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester. Gwendoline Christie (“Game of Thrones”) plays the headmistress Larissa Weems, who was Morticia’s roommate years ago.

As icing on the cake, Christina Ricci (who starred in Wednesday’s 1991 films The Addams Family and 1993 Addams Family Values) plays Marilyn Thornhill, the “dorm mom” who looks after the students.

The Addams family has been the subject of a range of media for decades, including comics, other television shows (such as a live-action series in 1964 and an animated series in 1973), and the movies of the ’90s, which also starred Anjelica Huston.

The biggest shock of this eight-episode series is that it’s Burton’s first attempt at the franchise. His fingerprints are all over “Wednesday,” which brims with his signature blend of the whimsical, the wacky, and the macabre.

Although this show’s existence seems redundant when Star Wars and the MCU can do countless spin-offs about tertiary characters, why shouldn’t Wednesday join the fray?

That said, the show is a mixed bag. While Wednesday is a fun supporting character in previous Addams family stories and Ortega plays her with deadpan charm, she’s not the most compelling protagonist.

It gets boring watching someone constantly sneer at everything. And some of the dialogue feels like the show is trying too hard, such as saying on Wednesday, “I find social media to be a soul-sucking void of meaningless validation.” (The show’s creators, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, are Smallville alumni.)

But the supporting characters and the world are fun, and this could usher in a new generation of fans who may not have seen previous versions of The Addams Family but want a show that takes a similar vein to the more recent The Chilling Adventures by Sabrina.”

Viewers hungry for a full look at the family might be disappointed as this show focuses on its titular character, with Morticia and Gomez on the sidelines. However, you do get some moments chewing the scenery when, during a thunderstorm, Morticia breathlessly comments, “At least it’s a beautiful day outside”.

“Wednesday” doesn’t have much to offer viewers uninterested in the high school antics that other shows have done better. But it’s still a treat for those who have wondered what Burton’s version of this world might be like.