Good, but messy

Rating: Null/10 (15 May 2012)

I was disappointed in the reviews for Dark Shadows, since I hoped for a home run for Burton. Still, I went to see this, and am glad I did. It's fun and entertaining for the most part, but incredibly messy. The main problem here is the editing and pace. Whereas Alice in Wonderland's problem was that it was just weak all around in the storyline, it at least did move more coherently. Dark Shadows never really has a central storyline or purpose going, and instead feels disjointed and random. But although it does feel messy, it still has a lot of great scenes mixed throughout, and I think as for the horror and comedic aspect, it was handled appropriately. I enjoyed the cast a lot, especially Depp. So I recommend it, but it sure has a lot of flaws. It could have been put together a lot better, and it also felt like it never went "all the way". But, I actually did find it funny many times, and although I have not seen the TV show, I didn't find that the ambition was lacking here. It doesn't exactly feel "lazy" as Alice did, just a sort of mishandled film.