Compared to its predecessor, which retained something of the madcap approach of the 1960s sitcom, Addams Family Values is played more for very dark and macabre laughs.
Subplots include Uncle Fester marrying the new nanny Debbie Jellinsky, who is a serial killer intending to murder him for his inheritance; and teenagers Wednesday and Pugsley Addams being sent to summer camp.
Gomez and Morticia Addams have a baby, hiring the nanny Debbie Jellinsky to care for their newborn son Pubert.
At their wedding, Fester passionately and with great emotion declares his everlasting devotion, while Debbie offers a lackluster response.
Back at Camp Chippewa, the counselors cast Wednesday as Pocahontas in Gary's Thanksgiving play, "A Turkey Named Brotherhood".
When she refuses to participate, she, Pugsley, and Joel are all sent to the camp's "Harmony Hut" and forced to watch hours of wholesome family entertainment movies and television shows.
Meanwhile Pubert, now restored to his normally pale and mustachioed self, escapes from his crib with a knife and reaches the family via a series of improbable events.
As Debbie lowers the switch to electrocute the Addamses, Pubert connects two loose wires, rerouting the electrical current through her instead, destroying her in spectacular fashion.
Fester laments Debbie's loss, but soon becomes smitten with Dementia, a new nanny Cousin Itt and his wife Margaret Alford have hired for their child.
The "family values" in the film's title is a tongue-in-cheek reference by writer Paul Rudnick to a 1992 speech ("Reflections on Urban America") made by then-vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle.
[7] The song is mostly rumored to have been removed due to the child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson; in reality, it was because of contractual differences with Paramount Pictures.
[9] Jackson is referenced in the film via a poster in the Harmony Hut advertising his 1992 single "Heal the World", which horrifies Joel.
[11] Its final box office gross in the United States and Canada was $48,919,043, a significant decline from the previous film's domestic total of $113,502,426.
The site's critical consensus reads: "New, well-developed characters add dimension to this batty satire, creating a comedy much more substantial than the original".
[18] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wondered if "the making of this sequel was sheer drudgery for all concerned", then answered herself by writing: "There's simply too much glee on the screen, thanks to a cast and visual conception that were perfect in the first place and a screenplay by Paul Rudnick that specializes in delightfully arch, subversive humor".
[19] Leonard Klady of Variety was slightly less enthusiastic than Maslin: "It remains perilously slim in the story department, but glides over the thin ice with technical razzle-dazzle and an exceptionally winning cast".
[20] Richard Schickel, writing for Time, was even less enthusiastic than Klady, calling the film "an essentially lazy movie, too often settling for easy gags and special effects that don't come to any really funny point".
Siskel gave Addams Family Values a mixed review and accused Sonnenfeld of caring more about how the film looks than how the jokes play.
[22][23] The film was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction (Ken Adam, Marvin March), but lost to Schindler's List;[24] and Huston was nominated for the 1993 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her performance as Morticia, a reprise of her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1991 original.
The film also won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song for the Tag Team track "Addams Family (Whoomp!)".