Watch out for the land mines in the Garden of Eden

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2012)

A good amount of good things about this. A few critically flawed.
Tim Burton turns in a clinic when it comes to shooting a film. It looked great and was cut well.
Some very good acting, especially from Depp.
A good story. Colorful characters.
Then why didn't it work better? Some critical mistakes.
Mainly Depp's character. He's a good guy supposedly turned into a monster who does terrible things and kills a lot of people. He has no choice? This drive is compelling?
BUT, if he is a good man and OUR hero, why doesn't he just walk outside in his underwear and let the sun kill him? To save his soul and innocent victims. He doesn't even kill bad people. He doesn't try to just drink animal blood as a panacea.
That is overlooked. For its flaws, this was addressed with the Hulk character in The Avengers. Dr. Banner said he tried to eat a bullet to save the innocent from The Hulk's rage. But the Hulk spit the bullet out. Thus, he had no choice but to live and try to manage his burden. But Depp's character had a clear choice and didn't take it. Thus, I could not sympathize with him, even though the character was likable when that element was gone.
And this is based on a soap opera that I never saw. What I saw was a film that was satirical look at a stilted original. But the jokes didn't work. They were stale and mildly amusing at best.
And the love story was poorly established. Depp is smitten with Victoria. Then it's dropped 'til SUDDENLY Depp is in love with her. No long looks from across the room?
Worth a look. Don't get me wrong. But wait for it 'til it comes out on DVD.