Tim Burton´s Wednesday review

Whether with the classic TV series of the 60s, the movies of the 90s, the animation of the 2000s or the original comic strips of the 30s The Addams family has been part of our lives in one way or another and now it's the turn of a new generation to get closer to them, this through the eldest daughter of this family in a Netflix production that has behind this project Tim Burton himself. But the questions to answer are:

Does this series manage to maintain the acid and funny essence that we value so much or does it become a mixture and a recycling of stories we already know?

Wednesday is starred by the fantastic Jenna Ortega, in this series we will accompany her in her entrance to Nevermore, an academy made for people with special abilities, something like Charles Xavier's mansion in X-Men. In this place Wednesday will not only be forced to socialize but will discover that a series of murders begin to occur apparently perpetrated by a monster that is stalking the surroundings. This situation combined with a dark prophecy will make her do the impossible to discover the culprit and also understand her place in all that, in short this series could be said to be a mix between Sherlock Holmes, Riverdale, Smallville, X-Men and a touch of Harry Potter, and personally this idea that Wednesday is shown under the qualities and characteristics of a Sherlock Holmes style detective sounded a bit disastrous to me, you know like an attempt to refresh a story that let's be honest doesn't need to be refreshed because despite the Addams family's age, the humor they have and the story is still alive, however from the first episode I was pleasantly surprised thanks to a tremendous performance by Jenna Ortega, a sufficient and not overflowing dose of Tim Burton and an intriguing mystery.

This series, which has a teenage audience as its main target, works quite well. The Netflix platform is aware that its original productions that orbit around teenagers work very successfully, hence we have some titles like Stranger Things, Heartstopper, Elite, Thirteen reasons why or movies like The kissing booth or All the boys I've Loved Before. These are clear examples of how this type of content works very well for the platform, hence we are not really surprised that they have chosen the character of Wednesday, the teenage member of The Addams Family, to lead this story. But in terms of trying to appeal to a teenage audience Netflix is not only limited to its protagonist but to everything you saw in the series as it is about something more adolescent they don't miss the opportunity to bring elements and things typical of these productions like the famous school dance, in this case it's not prom but you know what dance I mean, the love triangles, the different groups of students, the enmity between the popular and the protagonist, and so on. All of that is present here, but fortunately and in spite of those stereotypes the series acquires its own essence.

On the one hand, it is important to mention that we have Alfred Gough and Miles Miller in the production. Two names that if you grew up like me watching Smallville you will surely recognize. And yes, this pair produced the iconic Clark Kent series for years and now they are taking control of this series as well, and they are doing it again. The imprint of these producers is very clear since the central story of this series is reminiscent of the various chapters where Clark discovered a danger in the town and had to solve who was behind them. In Wednesday let's say that the same thing happens but instead of being solved in a self-conclusive episode the mystery will be solved through 8 episodes. And in that sense and perhaps one of the most important besides Jenna Ortega's role as Wednesday was to have an interesting mystery and here the truth is that we do have that, an interesting mystery and just like in an Agatha Christie novel we will put our suspicions on different characters and we will do make our own theories as to who the murderer might be. The interesting thing is that in addition to this mystery there is also a prophecy where Wednesday is apparently involved. Now while the mystery is intriguing, at times they use too sometimes they use too obvious and simplistic methods to confuse and apply the "look how suspicious this person looks, obviously you have to suspect because he could be the culprit", suddenly with that the series loses some points by applying easy methods instead of handling a more elaborate script and thinking about how to confuse the viewer in more elegant ways. Although I sincerely believe that the final resolution worked quite well.

What I really liked about the series was Jenna Ortega's performance as Wednesday. Her attitude, her gestures, the way she dominates every scene is amazing! And if we add to that we have some very funny dialogues in an acid tone that are very accurate. So we have a very good interpretation, good dialogues, a good script of what Wednesday says, and how she acts then we have as a result a memorable character, that at least I would like to continue seeing in more seasons.

Although Jeena Ortega is perfect as Wednesday, Wednesday is not perfect, although the series insists and insists on wanting us to see it that way. Because in effect she surpasses her qualities to the point of breaking the mold and becoming implausible. And the fact that Wednesday knows how to discover and follow clues we believe them, that she has visions we buy it, that she is very intelligent we respect it, but that she is also excellent in fighting, in fencing and that she is always one step ahead in the resolution of things are already too convenient moments for the script and beyond strengthening the character they weaken it by taking away that more plausible and more vulnerable side that I think would have been a more interesting point to get to. interesting point to get to. And also these visions that mention Wednesday as one of his abilities are suddenly too convenient and just as with the deviation of the mystery with obviousness we have situations where it is a common impasse and magically Wednesday has a vision that tells her how the whole future is going to be and what she has to do. It seems to me that in those situations they would have done a more elaborate script with a more believable, better thought out situation, but they take the easy way out.

As for Tim Burton I think we all have a favorite film by this director, however in recent years his eccentricity had not been so well grounded in films like Alice Through the Looking Glass, Dumbo or Dark Shadows, although here it feels like Netflix put a "this is as far as" to your eccentricity, imagination and creativity goes. The production ends up being like a mixture of both ways of creating, since in terms of the spaces that the characters are inhabiting, the music, the level of acidity and sarcasm, especially the character Wednesday, we can clearly read Tim Burton, a Tim Burton that does have his limits of how far they let him explore but that finally ends up working.

I think where he most explored all his ideas was in the character of Wednesday. Yes, through Wednesday and also in the production design where the room that the protagonist shares with Enid stands out the most. And speaking of Enid, another good thing I see is that not all but most of the secondary characters work quite well. Each one has a well-defined personality. And although some are more active part of the plot than others, in general the ensemble works well.

Although they do try to develop sub-plots with certain characters, such as Bianca, who is a sort of mermaid, they do try to develop some subplots, they are really very uninteresting. The love triangle takes shape in response to the desire to have a teenage drama but it is written under predictable and very conventional guidelines. It's like a story that gets in the way more than it adds.

And then we have the Addams family where Morticia and Gomez in particular play a more active role and when they are involved in the plot they work perfectly unlike Uncle Fester whose presence is only felt so as not to leave the character unattended.

The character of Thing I really liked how they resolved the character and how they incorporated him into this series. Thing is great, how they resolved to have him be an active part throughout the story by literally being a helping hand is fabulous.

And speaking of hand, in this series you can see the hand of Tim Burton, but not that Tim Burton of recent years but that Tim Burton who brought us Beetlejuice or Scissorhands, providing eccentric characters but that become very endearing in the story.

I didn't like the monster's design very much, every time he appeared on the scene he didn't contribute much and I felt that he had been taken from another universe, as if he didn't belong to that production. There is a scene where he fights another monster and the FX are not the best.

What I did like is the ending, without making any spoilers, both in the resolution as well as in a moment of a confrontation, although within this confrontation what I didn't see much sense is that having literally an academy with people with powers because nobody really ends up getting involved, maybe they do this as to not take the focus away from Wednesday but this having a house with characters that have superpowers ends up working nothing more as a backdrop, because these characters almost never make use of their abilities to also try to solve this mystery. And I think that would have been something interesting to see, a development where they will also be an active part using those powers, but I also understand that the series didn't want to end up turning into some sort of an X-Men or a Harry Potter.

In the end I really enjoyed the series Wednesday, the mystery is interesting and also the pieces that make it up, although it is a series that has a very clear focus on a teenage audience and as a result of this sometimes does not try so hard to have a more elaborate script and falls into many common places and gratuitous justifications, even so they manage to give a good personality to the story especially having at the head an actress who dominates the character and manages to impregnate each scene with a touch of acidity, sarcasm and irony that gives the series as something original despite having a formula that we have already seen before. I would love for them to make a second season and that they lowered a few stripes to that Wednesday is so perfect because I think that weakens the character rather than enriching it and well as long as the mystery continues to be interesting, and that they reinforce more subplots with the rest of the teammates, I really think it can be a great second season.

****

© Emby Lat

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