Dark Shadows (2012)

Title: Dark Shadows

Director: Tim Burton

Screenwriter(s): Seth Grahame-Smith

Producer: Richard D. Zanuck, Graham King, Johnny Depp, David Kennedy

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Production Company: Dan Curtis Productions, GK Films, & Infinitum Nihil

In Theaters: May 11th, 2012

Run Time: 113 minutes

Color: Technicolor

Starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter & Eva Green

Genre(s): comedy/fantasy

Storyline: 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... Written by Warner Bros. Pictures

Movie Trailer:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePV8WGngJRQ]

My Review: If you haven’t seen this movie yet but are planning on going to see it this weekend DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW!!

Let me also say that I’ve never seen the original television series or read the book that this movie was loosely (very loosely) based on. I did not go expecting Oscar worthy performances and I was not disappointed there. I went because it’s a Johnny Depp movie with Tim Burton directing it. How could I not go see this movie!? There are very few actor/director combinations today that work as well as theirs does. I was also surprised (and a bit delighted) to see Seth Grahame-Smith wrote the screenplay for this movie as well.

Now onto the bad news. This movie is NOT their best collaboration. I might be so bold to say it’s among my worst for me. Why? Well, for the first time, I felt like Johnny over acted this role to the point of making me uncomfortable. I honestly felt this role was made for him. Especially after all the crazy roles he’s played before this, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd, and Willy Wonka, to name but a few. Yet, he came across unreal as a vampire (pardon the pun).

My family also chimed in with their opinion of the movie based on the trailer alone. They grew up with the gothic soap opera so they know it VERY well. Never missed it in fact. And according to them this movie is a farce! A spoof of a great cult classic. Take that opinion as you wish and read on.

I was also disappointed in the storyline. Again, I have not seen the television show or read the book but basing my opinion solely on the movie I can say there was so much there to build on, so much depth that could have been shown on screen. Instead, the “sex” scene between the witch and the vampire was given about 3 minutes time that was a waste. It also felt like it was just shoved in there awkwardly.

Michelle Pfeiffer was actually the best part of the whole movie for me. Also, the boy and girl who I felt were not given enough of a story line. Especially since (spoiler alert) the teenage girl turns out to be a werewolf! Hello! If they were going for surprise there it worked but again it felt sort of shoved into the story awkwardly. I’d feel better if I knew there were more Dark Shadows movies to come? And if there are, then I’d wonder why this movie felt so rushed to tell a story that obviously is in depth since the tv show ran for over 1,200 episodes!! (I looked it up on IMDb)

I find myself about to watch Sweeney Todd or ANY of the Pirates movies in order to remind myself just how great Johnny Depp is and realize every writer, director, & actor has their bad film. I just hope this is the only one they’ll have!

My Rating: C-