Logline: An imprisoned vampire, Barnabas Collins,
is set free and returns to his ancestral home, where his dysfunctional
descendants are in need of his protection.
Cast: Johnny
Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloë Grace Moretz, Jackie Earle Haley
Directed by: Tim
Burton
As planned, my review of Dark Shadows on my birthday. I don't
think I need explain my reasoning as to why I chose to review this. As past has
shown, when director Tim Burton and Johnny Depp link up to make a movie it almost inevitably becomes a
hit. I wasn't really expecting much from this one though, considering I watched
the trailer and didn't laugh once.
Summary
Barnabas Collins was a
lady's man and a business man. He made his way to America at a very young age
after growing up in the filthy streets of Liverpool. In America he made a name for
his family by starting up a fishing company that made him very wealthy. Jealous
of his wealth and angry at Barnabas' knack for breaking hearts, a witch by the
name of Angelique Bouchard cursed him into becoming a vampire and had the town
lock him in a coffin and buried alive. Two centuries later Barnabas is back - he wants his wealth back and he wants revenge.
Review
Sometimes high expectations
can ruin a movie. Being that Tim Burton is a highly acclaimed director, Johnny
Depp is considered by many one of the best actors in the world, and the fact
that both have linked up for past success quite a few times (Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney
Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, Sleepy Hollow, Alice in Wonderland) - I bet a lot of
people set their standards really high for this movie. I didn't really. Don't
get me wrong, I have liked what the two have done together, especially
Edward and Sweeney, but the trailer didn't do it for me and I knew I probably
wouldn't enjoy the comedy.
That being said, the story
does lack that typical umph that we're usually used to. It's definitely eccentric
like the others, but it never raises itself above that into being a good story.
I will admit, this is another movie that took 20 minutes to get into, but it
was forgivable due to the first 10 minutes introducing pure backstory on
Barnabas and the second 10 minutes being pure introduction to the new family
within the Collin's residence. That
wasn't why I didn't really care for Dark
Shadows though. I think it just didn't flow properly. This
might be because there wasn't any urgency, maybe because the stakes were only
raised slightly, I'm not too sure. It just felt off.
I did enjoy the character
of Barnabas though. Some of his dialogue made me laugh and it was quite
creative. I felt bad for him being locked up 200 years and I wanted that witch
to pay.
Topic of the Day
Goal centric movies.
Dark Shadows barely had
any urgency and the stakes were only raised just a little bit (fall in love
with the witch, or have his life destroyed by her again). It was an interesting
twist of events, but it never really kept my interest much. I think what did
keep my interest and kept me watching 'til the end was the fact that Barnabas
Collins had his goals set. He wanted to get his wealth back and he wanted to
make the witch pay. By having such strong goals it enables the character to
constantly be doing things while overcoming obstacles. Although there wasn't
urgency, we're never floating because the character is motivated. 200 years of
doing nothing motivated. I'd say this rarely carries a movie for 2 hours of
runtime, but it kind of worked here. Having a goal centric main character is
very important and it's even more important that those goals are clear as day
for the audience to understand. Dark Shadows aces that
aspect.
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