Review: Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows"

The very idea of Tim Burton tackling a movie based on Dark Shadows -- the trailblazing soap opera that included vampires, witches, and ghosts -- with Johnny Depp starring as the main vampire character, seems like a perfect match of filmmaker, star, and material.

After all, Depp and Burton had made seven previous films together that all seem to run to the slightly twisted, darker side; movies that are filled with demon barbers, headless horsemen, and the like. While I have mixed feelings about their body of work together, there is no denying that Depp has been the peanut butter to Burton's jelly over the years. They obviously share a passion for this type of material and their output has yielded some of Burton's most successful films and some of Depp's most memorable creations.

In this newest collaboration, Depp plays Barnabas Collins, a man of wealth and privilege who is brought to America when his family expands their fishing business. After he spurns the advances of a young servant named Angelique (Eva Green,) his family is cursed, his fiance commits suicide, and he is transformed into a vampire. Convinced that Angelique is a witch and responsible for this recent turn of events, he confronts her, only to be locked away and buried alive for nearly 200 years. When he is accidentally unearthed in the 1970's, Barnabas returns to the Collins estate, only to discover that his family has fallen on hard times, and that Angelique has built a rival company that has essentially put them out of business.

What follows is a series of underdeveloped plots and subplots, including Angelique's advances towards Barnabas and her attempts to crush the Collins family business; the arrival of Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote) who may or may not be a reincarnation of Barnabas' lost love; the attempts by Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter) to cure Barnabas of his vampirism; and Barnabas' attempts to adapt to 1970's American culture. The list goes on and on. It's simply more than any two-hour movie could satisfactorily juggle, and some characters and plotlines are anemic or lost altogether.

Depp's over-the-top characters can often leave other performers behind, but Green is up to the challenge, and she has no difficulty holding her own as Barnabas and Angelique go toe-to-toe. They work well together, and seem to be having a lot of fun in the process. Green is tuned in to the right frequency -- her grinchy smile eerily resembles something akin to the characters in Burton's animated works -- and the movie benefits from having a strong adversary for Depp, who is at his quirky best. That scene from the trailer, where the two destroy a room during a supernatural love-making session, is one of the film's highlights.

I also enjoyed Michele Pfeiffer's work as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. She's cunning and gutsy, a willing partner to Barnabas, but strong enough not to blindly give up her role as head of the family after he returns. (Attention Hollywood: Pfeiffer should be working more often.) The rest of the cast -- including Chloe Grace Moretz as Carolyn Stoddard, the angst-y teenage daughter of Elizabeth; Johnny Lee Miller and Gulliver McGrath as Roger Collins and his son, David, who are both trying to get over the recent death of David's mother in their own ways; and Jackie Earl Haley as the family caretaker, Willie Loomis -- are good, but underused.

The film builds to a wild finale that is just plain ridiculous. It discards characters left and right -- missing one important character almost entirely and making a key revelation about another seem like a punchline -- as it attempts to tie up all the loose ends in the story. I can't imagine being a fan of the original series would've made it play any better. It didn't ruin the film for me, but it didn't end on a high note either. Ultimately, fans of Burton and Depp will find enough to enjoy in spite of the film's shortcomings; Dark Shadows is flawed, but executed with flair. There are some great visuals, and Burton keeps the tone playfully between Sleepy Hollow and Beetlejuice, which kept me entertained even as I scratched my head over the narrative choices and storytelling blunders along the way.

"Setting the Frame" Film Grade = C