Tim Burton's Dark Shadows

Well, this movie is getting reviewed on the basis of the iconic show it was based on. Ed Wood was not a horror movie and I suppose Sleepy Hollow is the closest Burton has come to making one. Depp whose work with Burton is now becoming formulaic, was in one of my top 50 horror movies the 9th gate. While this movie was mildly entertaining and not as bad as the trailers suggested it would be, it followed the mold already cast by the two on Charlie and Chocolate Factory, in fact Depp's Sweeny Todd was made of more horrific stuff than Barnabas Collins. Sure the movie did not use the same visual flare as a typical Burton movie. The melodrama of the television show was touched upon but by and large it was Depp who was shouldered with this task. The man out of time gag ran thin and the only laughs were in one scene..where Depp's Collins makes his first appearance interacting with the family at the table. Granted I'm not a fan of comedy and the genre as a whole is lost on me, but I do know it is supposed to illicit laughs. The attempts at this were so vague they could have been done away to better effect, and like the show which played it straight to get unintentional laughs more effectively than the ones this film was going for. The hue of the blood was enjoyable as well the scene showing Depp as he stalked the lava lamp. The cast got the job done but felt very color by numbers with little invested in their characters. eEva Green looked good on screen and either her psuh up bra worked wonders or is more stacked than I thought as he clevage was her primary prop. Helen Bonham Carter, had her moments as well, though lost it midway through, the remainder of the ensemble was largely card board cut outs. The movie threw in the kitchen sink by the end of the film,not unlike some of Burton's more recent work where the endings have seemed rushed.Much like a band who keeps re-writing the same song, Burton's inspiration in making this homage seems as muddy as his vision. While aside from the rushed ending and often mixed tone of the movie it is otherwise enjoyable and managed to suceed on some level. The most notable being escaping from the dismal failure the trailer predicted, at the same time I am glad I did not throw down the 11.00 to see it in theaters.