Not the Best Tim Burton Film

Rating: 5/10 (15 May 2012)

Barnabas (Johnny Depp) arrives in the new world in 1607 along with his parents, who establish a new colony call Collinsport. He had a girlfriend name Angelique (Eva Green), until he falls in love with another woman name Josette (Bella Heathcote). This breaks Angelique heart and curse Barnabas, which turns him into a vampire, and his future family will be curse as well. The towns' people turned against him and placed him in a coffin, burying him alive. 196 years later, he is awakened and notices that the town he once lived has change. His goal is to rebuild his family name and to rebuild his family fishing company that once dominated Collinsport. His competitor is none other than Angelique.
Dark Shadows is Tim Burton and Johnny Depp eighth collaboration. Two years ago Tim Burton disappointed me with the release of Alice in Wonderland and I gave it a D- when I reviewed it. Did Tim Burton redeem himself with his latest film? The answer to that is sort of.
The plot of Dark Shadows is simple and believe it or not somewhat interesting. At the same time though it bored the heck out of me. The weakness is that it the film is very predictable. Basically you gonna know what's going to happen from the beginning to the end. The last act felt rush becausewell I really can't say otherwise I'll spoil the movie.
The film delivers great casting. Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Jackie Earl Harley are talented in this movie. I do have problems with Johnny Depp performance. Don't give me wrong he is a good actor, but ever since playing Capitan Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean Series, he brings that character in other films most of the time, for instant his personality is identical. In other words he's like the Capitan Jack Sparrow of vampire. Another issue was that despite great casting, some, if not, the majority of the supporting characters have little screen time. For example, Chloë Grace Moretz as Carolyn Stoddard was an interesting character, but she only get 10 minutes of screen time. What's up with that?
Dark Shadows has good humor. I admit, I laugh couple of times, but it wasn't enough at the same time. Then again I'm probably trying to see for I wanted to see as oppose for what it is. For what it is, it was so- so.
What Tim Burton is good and will always be good is his unusual visionary. For instant, His "gothic" setting looks great. His long music composer and collaborator Danny Elfman knows how to compose his films and does it for its best.
Dark Shadows has it moments. Is it worth seeing it in theaters? No. Personally I would wait and rent this movie. Dark Shadows is not a bad film, but it could have been better.