2012 movie

Dark Shadows (2012)

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

"You may strategically place your wonderful lips upon my posterior and kiss it repeatedly!"

Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) was cursed to be a vampire by a witch named Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green) and caged in a coffin for hundreds of years... Accidentally released, Barnabas aimed to restore his family's legacy...

I saw so many talents wasted in terms of characters... Chloe Grace Moretz, Helena Bonham Carter, Michelle Pfeiffer and some other talented actors weren't given enough materials to work on... Instead, most focus was given on lead characters played by Johnny Depp and Eva Green...

Every character in the movie was indeed unique and carried that signature style of Tim Burton... However, the supporting characters were underdeveloped and acted only as a medium for Barnabas to deliver punchlines... It's such a shame because I would love to see more from Chloe Moretz and her ridiculous teenage acts...

Johnny Depp was a star in this movie... His jokes and freaky antics made the character Barnabas lovable by fans... The audience was so entertained by Barnabas that they forgot that he's actually a ruthless blood sucking monster... His performance was matched by Eva Green who played Angelique the witch... Eva did a good job portraying crazy and sexy...

My wife commented, "I love the jokes but not the story..."... I do agree with her statement... The obvious strength of this flick is in the funny acts and Johnny Depp's freaky acting... However, there's no spectacle in the story as it's quite plain and predictable... Little background story was also given to the Collins family, leaving audience less space to either adore or sympathize with them...

One more thing worth praising is Tim Burton's work in making the movie seems so gothic and old skool, suitable to the original vampire theme...

All in all, Dark Shadows is an example of a movie where design is more focused than the story (kinda typical for Tim Burton these days)... Audience shall only find delight from the jokes mostly contributed by Barnabas...

3 out of 5 stars~