"Wednesday" is Tim Burton's Proudest Achievement Yet

Tim Burton, who should need no introduction to this blog, I think actually does: He started out in 1986 with Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, and then followed that up in 1988 with the comedy smash Beetlejuice (both of which are still after all these years, big highlights and extraordinarily funny, fun-filled movies (everybody remembers shitting their pants at “Large Marge” and her, uh, “transformation” mid-scene). Then he directed the movie he will probably be most remembered for, and that’s Batman starring Michael Keaton as the titular caped crusader. After many years and many reboots later, some people still say that this movie is the best one of its breed. Following that, he moved on to more romantic, bittersweet tale in the stunningly beautiful (and stunningly tear-jerking) Edward Scissorhands. It was a visionary masterpiece beyond compare. Then after that he directed the (less well-received) Batman Returns, which McDonald’s thought had villains too vile for happy meal toys(!) After that, he did amazing, visionary takes on filmmaker Ed Wood, and the incredible parody of Independence Day, Mars Attacks! Next, he turned his eye to the grim Hammer Horror genre with Sleepy Hollow. And then he made what many consider his best film to date, Big Fish. I still remember crying at the end of that movie, box of kleenexes et al. For now, that’s all we need to establish Burton as a one-of-a-kind spooky (kooky, even) filmmaker, an auteur like no other, a filmmaker whose works sometimes rose above their subject material and elevated it at the same time. So it should be no surprise that when Tim Burton did finally get around to the cast I feel he was almost meant to direct in live-action, the Addams Family, as envisioned by their creative cartoonist, Charles Addams, and i(n what some say is their purest form) and the person he chose for the “spotlight” in his first TV hit, was the character of Wednesday, here presented as a sixteen year old troublemaker and outcast, whose parents decide to send her to a whole school full of outcasts (of which they were prideful alumni of, of course), Nevermore Academy. Needless to say, the show was an instant hit. (Just go to Youtube and type in Wednesday dance” and see what you get). But why? Why is this show so damn good, so damn addictive, and like popcorn itself, delicious?

I think the key lies in Jenna Ortega (soon to be an executive producer of the show herself) and her portrayal of Wednesday as the ultimate deadpanning, sardocis goth teen (she even plays the Stones’ “Paint it Black” up on the roof, on her cello, surrounded by an orchestration handily provided by — who else? —Danny Elfman). But also, we have to look beyond Wednesday herself, to Enid, Wednesday’s excessively happy werewolf roommate. The two are a perfect buddy-cop pair made in heaven: Wednesday’s dry humor and wry wit, bounced off the most cheerful and always-excited person in the room, who even paints “her side” of their shared dorm room in rainbow colors. The mix works so well that the energy can’t help but flow from there into the other characters of the show, like principle Gwwendolen Weems, the local Sherrif, and his misfit son (I won’t blow who he turns out to be in the end), and of course, looking over the entire show is the spooky, mysterious ghost of the late pilgrim founder of the town of Jericho, Joseph Crackstone, whom, we learn, was a madman and a witch-burner whose favorite person to pick on was . . . Goody Adams, a witch who was Wednesday’s ancestor. The entire show hums with creative energy, and you can tell that the people in front of the camera, as well as the people behind it, are infected with its macabre humor, its strange twists and turns, and of course, in the end, the engine is driven by Ortega’s performance as Wednesday. Sardonic, ironic, deadpan, and hilarious, Wednesday is the beating heart of the show. And, it’s miraclous what comes out of the overall mix: Probably Tim Burton’s best creation yet, for the big or small screen. Catch it on Netflix — if you dare — and fall in love with it like I did. You won’t be disappointed.