The animation is sharp, right down to Lurch's fingernails. The music is well-placed. The famous theme song pops up now and then but is not overdone.

This 2019 CGI remake misses the mark in the most crucial element of what has sustained The Addams Family all this time - its offbeat, macabre vibe. If you don't get that, you're really not going to get any of it.

It's tedious but, worse, it's wasteful. The wealth of talent that has gone into its making has been frittered away in a vain attempt to pump new heart into a creation that ran out of puff long ago.

How do you start well, end well and then everything in the middle is just a drag?