Great Look and Fun Performances But Shallow

Rating: Null/10 (13 May 2012)

Dark Shadows (2012)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Tim Burton's updating of the TV series features Johnny Depp playing vampire Barnabas Collins who after nearly two-hundred years underground is dug up where he returns to his family estate (via 1972) and plans on returning the Collins name back to the top. The only problem is that his old enemy, the witch Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green), plans to keep his curse unless he agrees to love her. I've heard several people compare this to the earlier works of Burton and I'd have to agree because after years of delivering some fine films I think the director fell back on his old method that is more style that substance. Visually and technically DARK SHADOWS is a masterpiece but there's so little here to connect to that it's easy to see why so many people are leaving the theater disappointed. I'm not overly familiar with the original show, hated the first movie and haven't seen the second one. With that said, I'm not sure how "fans" of them will react to this here so I'm not even going to try and compare everything. For the most part Burton has delivered a truly incredible looking film. The sets, costume design and most of the special effects are terrific looking and I'm glad that the director kept the dark tone. The TV ads and trailers have shown the worst of the film and that's the failed comedy. There are a lot of jokes that really don't make one laugh, although some of them are charming in a very childish way. The jokes that do work basically come from Depp's performance as he's able to pull off the fish-out-of-water routine and especially the jokes about Alice Cooper (who performs a couple songs). Depp nails the part pretty well but at the same time you have to wonder why such a talented actor appears in this stuff. Michelle Pfeiffer was back and it was great seeing her. She too delivers a fine performance but the screenplay does very little for her character. The same is true for Helena Bonham Carter and Jackie Earle Haley. It was fun seeing Christopher Lee in his small part as well as Jonathan Frid's cameo. Chloe Grace Moretz steals the film as the young woman with a few secrets of her own. On the whole DARK SHADOWS is a great film to look at and the performances are good but with such a distant screenplay and no characters to really care for, the film in the end just doesn't come together.