Dark Shadows Review

Is this the Summer's hottest comedy? The definitive verdict on Tim Burton's latest film outing.
As with just about any other Tim Burton film you can think of, Dark Shadows isn't perfect. For all its whimsical charm and sheer visual fidelity, there are a number of gaping plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon plaguing its storyline, and the surprisingly downbeat undertones of the flick are perhaps taken a little too far at times. Those have always been traditional trappings of the 'Burton genre', though, and if you go into this great comedy with an open mind then there's going to be a lot more to like than there will be to fault. The plot focuses on Barnabus Collins (Johnny Depp), a bachelor-turned-vampire who is awakened from his slumber two centuries after his imprisonment by an evil witch (Eva Green). It is the year 1972, and Collins finds that much of the society he lives in has changed, so he goes about resurrecting his family name through his esteemed descendants. At times, the film seems a little uncertain of what direction it wants to go in, mixed between bouts of intense yet comedic fantasy violence and contrasting 1760s-1970s segments of alienation for Depp's character, but whatever it does Dark Shadows just has a fun time of it, and hopefully for the vast majority of viewers that will be more than enough to 'fill in' the plot holes such as the reasoning behind Victoria's connection to Janette (too hard to explain here, check it out and you'll see what I mean) and other bizarre turns of events. Johnny Depp and the cast all do an absolutely stellar job of bringing across the mixed dark/funny tone of the piece, really giving off the impression that they wanted to be there and had a ball doing it. The soundtrack is wonderous, too, mixing retro tracks like Superfly with more recent hits like You're My First, My Last, My Everything and Get It On to create some unexpected but more than welcome musical setpieces. It's great to have big names like Helena Bonham-Carter, Christopher Lee and Alice Cooper along for the ride too, even if there roles are relatively insubstantial. I went into Dark Shadows not expecting much after countless occassions where Burton's work hasn't impressed, and yet the film turned out to be an unexpected hit for me- look past the narrative missteps and the bizarre final few scenes and you get a whimsical, charming piece with a lovely visual style and above all a sense of fun and confidence that you don't find in enough fantasy comedies nowadays.
4/5