I'm a happy DS fan

Rating: 9/10 (11 May 2012)

They GET it! Tim Burton, et al. have delivered a ton of the gothic/60s mashup fun that was the "Dark Shadows" experience. They've stuck to the original storyline and characters, while, of course, blowing out the original claustrophobic sets and expanding into a majestic and wonderful Collinwood. Johnny Depp was the perfect Barnabas; he gets it too -- much of the delight we took in watching the old TV show was seeing Johnathan Frid rising above the insane pace of production which made it hard for him to keep his lines straight (we called it "What's My Line?") to maintain the dignity and charisma of his vampire character through the most crackpot plot twists. Mr. Depp has that same buoyant dignity that is the best foil for humor. The (unashamedly borrowed) plot strings that became so tangled that only an escape to the past or to a parallel universe could untangle them gave hours of mirth to my roommate and me, when whoever had seen that day's show tried to fill the other in on what had happened. So even the dizzy ending of this movie is OK with me.
There's never a dull moment. The cast is all fine, especially Michelle Pfeiffer (Elizabeth Collins Stoddard), Eva Green (Angelique), and Helena Bonham Carter hilariously filling the shoes of Grayson Hall as Dr. Julia Hoffman. Besides the witty acting, there's always something eye- popping or funny to see if you look closely, like when after we see Mrs. Stoddard's "macramé closet" (how 1970 is that?) we later see her wearing tiny macramé earrings. And how special to see Hammer Films' great Dracula, Christopher Lee, who must have inspired Mr. Frid, getting the vampire hypnosis treatment himself. I'd love to see more of these characters (sequel!). Oh, another thing: terrific period music! Makes me miss those days. Hard to believe it's been 40 years.