21 May 2012

Dark Shadows

What do you get if you cross vampires, witches, ghosts and werewolves with Tim Burton?
Well, a bit of a mess, really.

The storyline is pretty good, and it has a great premise: A young man spurns the love of a witch because she's in love with someone else. The witch makes the other girl jump off a cliff and makes him a vampire. He gets locked in a coffin for nearly 200 years, until some workmen find him and dig him out. He sees his estate in ruins and vows to help his family.

That's all fine and dandy. What ensues is somewhat unpredictable and slightly corny. The vampire clearly doesn't fit in, so in come all the amusing bits from the trailer. They seem to be to be dotted in somewhat haphazardly around the main storyline, so they seem random and out of place. It's funny for a while, but then becomes a little tedious.

This doesn't mean to say that the whole thing is a shambles. Johnny Depp is, as always, a superb actor. And the prescence of the lovely Eva Green and Michelle Pfieffer is enough to boost the appeal enormously. Chloe Moretz's role really didn't make sense for me. Some lines she came out with were a little out of place again, but the part that made the least sense was a sudden turn of events nearing the end, which just made me utter 'really'?

The effects were very good, and I rather liked Helena Bonham Carter's character. And the musical score is great. But unfortunately the good outweighs the bad for me on this occasioin. I usually love Tim Burton, but there was something about this film that didn't quite sit well with me. Hopefully his next film, 'Frankenweenie' will have him back on form.

Entertaining, but sadly lacking. A 6 out of 10 from me.


No comments:

Post a Comment