October 2, 2012
The reviews for Dark Shadows were not good. At all. On the Rotten Tomatoes website, it was called everything from “an expensive joke” to “the worst film of [Burton's] 30-year career.” WOW. I didn't remember much about the movie from when it came out, but reading the credits made me wonder how bad it could possibly be! You've got Tim Burton and Johnny Depp (always good for a neat, creepy movie), music by Danny Elfman, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter...COME ON! That's a recipe for a fun October movie.
I spent the first half of the movie thinking the critics were NUTS. The visuals are gorgeous – dark and spooky and amazing. The actors are hilarious oddballs, and the story is unique. A 200-year-old vampire is released into 1972, and tries to find love while also saving the fortune of his descendants? Please, sir, can I have another? That is good stuff!
In fact, it wasn't until the second half of the movie that the spell was broken in a rather abrupt way. That was when they had an Alice Cooper concert at the mansion, using the real Alice Cooper.
Oy.
I have nothing against Alice Cooper, but whenever you have a real band playing a song on a TV show or in a movie, it feels so hokey and forced to me. Like the director said, “Well, Alice Cooper saved my wife's life once. So, I kinda owe him. How about we put him in the movie? How? I don't know, let's just have a concert or something. Make it fit.”
Overall, the film is fun to watch. There is a lot of really great humor in it, but with some violent twists (you never forget that Collins, played by Depp, is a vampire who needs to eat). However, there are a lot of stops and starts in the plot that make it feel a little scattered. Designed as an homage to the original 1960s TV show, which ran for 5 seasons, the movie may have tried to do too much. Dark Shadows could have been fantastic – but as it is, I would say it's just a fun movie to watch with your PG-13 family.
Meredith reviews Dark Shadows
The reviews for Dark Shadows were not good. At all. On the Rotten Tomatoes website, it was called everything from “an expensive joke” to “the worst film of [Burton's] 30-year career.” WOW. I didn't remember much about the movie from when it came out, but reading the credits made me wonder how bad it could possibly be! You've got Tim Burton and Johnny Depp (always good for a neat, creepy movie), music by Danny Elfman, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Helena Bonham Carter...COME ON! That's a recipe for a fun October movie.
I spent the first half of the movie thinking the critics were NUTS. The visuals are gorgeous – dark and spooky and amazing. The actors are hilarious oddballs, and the story is unique. A 200-year-old vampire is released into 1972, and tries to find love while also saving the fortune of his descendants? Please, sir, can I have another? That is good stuff!In fact, it wasn't until the second half of the movie that the spell was broken in a rather abrupt way. That was when they had an Alice Cooper concert at the mansion, using the real Alice Cooper.
Oy.
I have nothing against Alice Cooper, but whenever you have a real band playing a song on a TV show or in a movie, it feels so hokey and forced to me. Like the director said, “Well, Alice Cooper saved my wife's life once. So, I kinda owe him. How about we put him in the movie? How? I don't know, let's just have a concert or something. Make it fit.”
Overall, the film is fun to watch. There is a lot of really great humor in it, but with some violent twists (you never forget that Collins, played by Depp, is a vampire who needs to eat). However, there are a lot of stops and starts in the plot that make it feel a little scattered. Designed as an homage to the original 1960s TV show, which ran for 5 seasons, the movie may have tried to do too much. Dark Shadows could have been fantastic – but as it is, I would say it's just a fun movie to watch with your PG-13 family.
Meredith Bland is a
freelance writer who blogs
at www.pileofbabies.com