'DARK SHADOWS'

'DARK SHADOWS (PG-13) (3 STARS)

Written by Seth Grahame Smith
Directed by Tim Burton
Actors: Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chloe Grace Moretz, Jonny Lee Miller, Helena Bonham Carter, Jackie Earle
Haley, Bella Heathcoate

It's funny how a Tim Burton movie can suck you in even when you know the movie is just not working. "Dark Shadows" is a great dissapointment coming from Burton and Johnny Depp but bits and pieces sucked me in. I know without the beautiful set designs, cinematography and two of my favorite actresses giving two more great performances I would have dismissed this movie totally. I love the music and the haunting and beautiful look of the movie. I love that Michelle Pfeiffer comes back in a big way still looking breathtaking. I also think that Chloe Grace Moretz as young Carolyn is going to be a major actress equal to Jodie Foster and Natalie Portman. Add to that the fact I am a huge, huge sucker for movies set in the 1970's!

"Dark Shadows" is an adaptation of a vampire soap opera that played after school in the 70's and I have never seen it. If it was a soap opera then Burton gets the job done here because this movie plays like a soap opera. The plot is over the top with dialogue that is soap opera nutty and a plot that is silly. Johnny Depp plays Barnabas Collins who in the 1700's was cursed by the evil Angelique turning him into a vampire and having him buried alive in a coffin for eternity. Barnabas wakes up in 1972 and breaks out of his coffin in a nifty scene where he kills some construction workers that dug up his coffin. Barnabas was part of an influential family and most of the movie deals with Depp's reactions to 70's culture. His descendants now reside in his mansion and there is the beautiful matriarch Elizabeth and her rebel daughter Carolyn. Angelique comes back to take over the family business and get rid of Barnabas.

There is also a love story involving Barnabas and the lovely Victoria who is reincarnated into Josette in 1972 and who becomes the Governess to the Collins family. That love story shows promise in the beginning but the movie drops the ball in the second half losing that promise. The movie is more involved with the sexy battle between Barnabas and Angelique. "Dark Shadows" has a strong first half hour with a solid set up and then meanders and gets lazy after that. There is a lot of down time and nothing exciting or big happens. That is until the very funny and sexy fight/love scene where Barnabas and Angelique fly and crash everywhere destroying walls and furniture while they fight and then get it on. That is my favorite scene of the movie and the first time I felt the movie was really alive and this is an hour in!

The movie needed more juice, energy and bigger laughs. I laughed a few times, smiled a lot but I never felt the movie was truly funny or exciting. There are moments where the movie is a lot of fun but I was sucked in more by the beautiful cinematography and the perfect recreation of the 70's down to the sets and the costumes. I also love the movie's soundtrack and there is a wonderful moment where Alice Cooper plays a concert in the Collins house and his second song that I have never heard before is beautiful and leads to a sweet montage. Johnny Depp is funny and his performance is more alive than a lot of the movie. Though I really loved the three major women in this movie the best. Eva Green is beautiful and sexy as Angelique, Michelle Pfeiffer looks stunning and is still got it (her best performance in years!) I also can't say enough about Chloe Grace Moretz who steals every scene she is in and is probably the best young actress working in movies today.

So I think the plot of "Dark Shadows" is uninspired but after I walked out I couldn't get the look of the movie out of my head. I couldn't stop running the soundtrack through my head of great 70's songs. Burton picks some winners including a beautiful end credits song by The Killers. I love Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer and Chloe Grace Moretz a lot here and want to see them again. I also think the look of the movie and the feel of it is still with me and I did want to see it again to find out if it might get better the second time. Can I fully recommend this movie? I think a lot of people will walk out of this mad and dissapointed as I first thought I was and some might hate it. It needed more juice and electricity like Burton's "Beetlejuice" and a better love story like "Edward Scissorhands". Burton has slipped a little lately and maybe he will never achieve the glory of arguably his best two movies "Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood". Though this is way better than his misguided "Planet of the Apes" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Most critics didn't like this movie but this is "The Regular Moviegoer" and the movie's strong parts sucked me in and I enjoyed myself.