Problems in all departments...

Rating: 3/10 (11 May 2012)

First off, it is important to mention that I am an original Dark Shadows fan. After seeing the first preview, I realized that this was going to be more comedy than drama and not likely true to the original. OK. Reluctantly, I can accept the change of tone since I like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. So maybe it will be a good Tim Burton movie regardless of the changes. It wasn't. First off-it was sloooooow (up until the last 15 minutes). I like good exposition, but it seemed pointless and uninvolving. Secondly, the story jumped around all over the place. No real build to anything. I don't want to give any spoilers (as if there are some to give), but the guest star was more of a side track and of no real importance to the plot at all. It was filler as was most of the movie. You would think that out of a thousand episodes of the original show they could have put together a decent story. I really wanted to like it. I tried to find a few golden moments, but there really weren't any. It just felt like a mess. I give it 3 stars only because I did like Johnny Depp's performance and most of the actors seemed well cast. In addition, I want Tim Burton to keep making movies (just not ones like this). Nice try. Getting a better script would have helped.