Movie: Dark Shadows
By: Maniac E
Date: May 10, 2012
So Tim Burton returns with Johnny Depp and a triple AAA cast for his new movie "Dark Shadows". The whole idea of taking the first Gothic soap opera (which ran from 1966-1970), a tale of vampires, horror and longtime family curses, and putting it on the big screen, at first seemed a stretch; but when director Burton decided to travel the comedic route, many fans and less-interested folks alike were even more skeptical. Will it deliver?
In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet-or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy... until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better.
Although some jokes are just not coming out right and feel a bit been there done that. There is however a good balance of humor and drama and even a bit of sweetness when Barnabas is with Victoria Winters. Barnabas does reveal who his to Elizabeth but how this transpires and what it leads to is interesting and not played for laughs. Some of the (well, gore is a big word) blood effects are awesome looking and you can clearly see that Disney didn't had much to say but don't expect too much from a PG13 rating movie. Michelle "gets" Elizabeth and plays her very well even her false eyelashes are a nod to the original TV show actress' look. The costumes! Colleen Atwood has done it again. Maybe a bit too good since the outfits and interior are getting such a big focus in the movie.
The look and feel of the movie is great but could have used a bit more real Tim Burton style sauce over it. Luckily for the ones out there like me who are done with all the CGI works, Burton choose to work with more real settings this time around and blends the 70tees with a gothic touché .But everything was looking good in a 70tees kind of way. So less to no green screens are used which for me was setting its setting apart from his last 4 movies. The music used in the movie is just fitting. Everything feels like it should fit together
The movie isn't all top class and to be fair Tim Burton did make a lot better movies. Dragging is one word that pops into my mind with a running time of 2 hours it's a bit on the long side. Don't get me wrong Burton is a good director, not great but good he knows how to put things together well and makes sure there aren't too much of dull moments in the movie. I would have loved to see more real Burton style in the movie. The acting is solid with a great soundtrack and look and feel you got a complete package here. If you can watch beyond the lame jokes from time to time you will enjoy it. If you really don't mind the story being bad you can add half a star to the final judgment. I will leave this hanging around 2.5 stars.
Dark Shadows
Tim Burton
USA
2012
Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Eva Green
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