The latest Tim Burton/Johnny Depp creation tries to both embrace the culture of the early 1970′s and make fun of it at the same time, which was just one of a few inconsistent thematic tones throughout this Dark Shadows revival film.
Which isn't to say the film isn't at times funny, but there's a point — and I think it's when the real life Alice Cooper is on stage playing Alice Cooper, and it isn't played for laughs but instead it's a mood-setter for the theatrical climax of the movie — when Burton seems to give up on the satirical and physical comedy and goes for a serious vampire movie, and it kind of fails, in part, because he spent most of the movie making a comedy and then at the end changes his mind, and the inconsistency makes the ending fall flat. I mean, Alice Cooper is on stage playing Alice Cooper and we don't even get a wink?! Had Burton just kept the film consistent, or even turned the 'zany' dial up a bit, instead of getting caught up in the 'vampireyness,' he could have had a winner. I mean, in my opinion, there's more than enough serious supernatural movies about vampire/werewolf/witches out there today, it wouldn't have hurt to subvert the genre a little bit more, and keep it a comedy that makes fun of the silliness of it all. By the end of Dark Shadows, Burton makes it clear he just wanted a piece of the action.
Again, there are good moments, spearheaded by a man born to play the role of a vampire (Johny Depp). Barnabas Collins (Depp) of Collinwood is buried for 200 years, is dug up, and then tries to go about his business of running a coastal fishing company and sucking blood, but is frequently distracted by things like lava lamps, television, and rock music. And he continues his feud with a local witch (Eva Green) who competes for his maritime business, and his affection.
Naturally, it's a Tim Burton movie, so the plot is a bit dreary, and because it's a Tim Burton movie, the set design and the filmmaking are the best parts of the movie. Each shot is gorgeous, deliciously composed, and the set is stylized in such a lavishly gloomy way, it will remind you of just about every Tim Burton movie, but perhaps most specifically, Dark Shadows has the feel of Sleepy Hollow (1999, also with Depp, this is their 8th! collaboration by the way) and Big Fish (2003, good movie, if you haven't seen it).
Also — an interesting experience to add — though I don't think it affected the movie-watching experience too much: I saw this with my girlfriend at Movie Tavern in Lexington, where you order food and drinks and sit at a table while watching the movie in a movie theatre. We wanted to try the venue, and wanted to see a movie we thought would be entertaining, but that it would be okay to miss a couple one-liners during if we were distracted by the environment. I think, overall, it was a good choice of movies, though it turns out, and maybe not surprisingly, Movie Tavern is not a great place to watch a movie. As for Dark Shadows itself, I'll say that for loyal Tim Burton fans, stay loyal, but for loyal vampire fans, tread carefully.
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