nice set-up, lousy finish - only mild spoilers

Rating: 4/10 (31 October 2012)

Tim Burton has had his share of the good, and his share of the bad.
Dark Shadows starts interestingly enough, jumping through time and pulling it's lead character along the way, to the modern day(1972).
Depp is the star of the show, and he's excellent here as Barnabus Collins, a fishery tycoon who's family has been devastated by tragedy.
The film is absolutely charming for the first 40 minutes, and then it completely derails.
Burton's story here is fine, but he fails to take advantage of many aspects of his own plot. Example. We get to see Depp venture into the daylight with umbrella and sunglasses in tow. But instead of seeing him interact with townspeople and keep driving this film in the comedy direction it was heading in - we get sloppy interaction between the same characters. None of them are as charming as Depp, and even Depp can't overcome the messy finish that accentuates a then rendered meaningless business struggle and drops the comedy nearly altogether.
I wish something would have called me away from the flat-screen halfway through.
I think Burton made a mistake by basically giving his core of 5-6 characters 99.999999% of the dialog. I also believe that he started all of the characters in the right place, and then really drove them in the wrong direction.
The film was marred by shameless product placement, and hints of sequel story lines, but I don't think I'll be waiting in line for the next Dark Shadows.
The first 40 minutes is extremely funny and interesting, but that's only part of what makes the last hour so disappointing.
Positives. THe film looks fantastic. Danny Elfman doesn't contribute a whole lot to this in terms of score/theme, that's practically non-existent, but at least he uses some of the best music available from the era. Depp. The first 40 minutes.
That's all I've got for positives.
You Might Like This OR You Might Try: Fido(better), Edward Scissorhands(better), Monster Squad(slightly better), Adam's Family Values(slightly better)or Tommy Boy(slightly better).
54/100