Dark Shadows Review

The latest film from Tim Burton, Dark Shadows fails to live up to any high expectations that it had and instead turns out to be an overall underwhelming flick which struggles to find its rhythm throughout its 113 minute runtime. That is not to say that it is a bad movie, because it is far from horrible, but it seems that we could have expected a far better movie from the mastermind director Tim Burton.

One of the biggest problems that the film has is that it doesn't really seem to know what kind of movie it really is. Although there were plenty of moments throughout that drew laughs from the crowd, there were also many moments where the crowd wasn't really sure if they were supposed to be laughing or not. I think that made it awkward for many of the people in the theater that I was in. It's no doubt that it was a strange film, but despite its flaws it still seemed to keep you entertained. Carried by notable strong performances by Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter and Jackie Earle Haley the film was driven by its fun and wacky characters that helped make up for its somewhat predictable and sometimes boring plot. It should also be mentioned that the great musician Alice Cooper makes a small, but awesome appearance in the film, in what turned out to be my favorite part of the entire movie.

While Dark Shadows will likely end up being one of the most forgettable Tim Burton flicks, it is still one that should definitely be worth a watch to the die-hards out there. After all, it features Johnny Depp as a vampire, and who didn't think that sounded cool when they first heard it? It was also nice to hear the musical score by long-time Burton collaborator, Danny Elfman who always does a fine job at setting the mood with great music in Tim Burton's films. All in all though, the film can be summed up with one word: Mediocre. It likely won't leave you thinking too much about it afterwards and it will likely become a film that is all but forgotten in a few months.

Overall Rating: 2.5/5