Rob Zombie’s The Munsters reboot has earned mixed reviews, but one repeated refrain found in many critical write-ups proves that the movie has inverted a common Netflix problem. Rob Zombie’s The Munsters aimed to update the classic '60s sitcom for a modern audience. The original iteration of The Munsters was a campy, cartoonish television comedy that mined sitcom adventures from a family of classic movie ghouls. As a fan of the original series, Zombie had wanted to reboot the property for years.
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Unfortunately, the campy excesses of Rob Zombie's take have divided critics. The movie version of The Munsters changed some details from the show, but a lack of fidelity to the source material was not the most commonly cited problem. Negative reviews of the adaptation complained that Rob Zombie's reboot of The Munsters was actually too similar to the original television series, and its broad, campy humor felt dated in 2022. Meanwhile, positive reviews of the movie suggested this faithful recreation of the corny '60s series was the best thing about the Netflix-distributed Universal Pictures production. However, both good and bad reviews of Rob Zombie’s The Munsters update point to another, deeper problem.
Almost every review of Rob Zombie's film adaptation acknowledged the problem of The Munsters' runtime being way too long. Even positive write-ups point out that the plot of The Munsters is episodic and devoid of a clear through-line, which initially adds to the freewheeling comedic tone but lacks purpose in an almost two-hour movie. These kinder reviews noted that The Munsters did nail the tone and sense of humor of the original series but pointed out that the sitcom's goofy jokes worked better in the tighter, much shorter confines of television episodes. This recurring complaint implies that The Munsters might have been perfect as a six-episode limited series instead of a movie — the opposite of how a lot of recent Netflix shows, from the Melissa Barrera-led survival thriller Keep Breathing to the goofy Mike Myers vehicle The Pentaverate, would have been perfect as standalone movies.
Why Zombie’s Munsters Needed To Be A Show (Not A Movie)
Rob Zombie's The Munsters has almost no storyline but features a lot of fun segments that last seven to 20 minutes apiece. Its chaotic plot feels like a jumble of sitcom storylines jammed together and, with a runtime just shy of two hours, this gets old fast. However, if the same resources, budget, and time had been allotted to a Zombie-directed revival of the original sitcom, The Munsters might have been an outright critical success. Since most of the negative reviews cite the interminably long runtime as one of the biggest problems with The Munsters, a sitcom revival that took the form of six 20-minute episodes rather than one 110-minute movie could have fared far better with viewers.
From the new characters introduced in Rob Zombie’s The Munsters reboot to the meandering plot, it is clear the Netflix project should have been a show and not a movie. However, whether Netflix will get this message from the mixed critical response to The Munsters is to be seen.