MOVIE REVIEW: 'Dark Shadows' is not for younger generations
Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter teamed up once again for “Dark Shadows,” which came to theaters Friday.
The film, a spin-off of the 1960s television show, tells the story of Barnabas Collins (Depp), a man who was turned into a vampire in the 1700s and released from his coffin in the 1970s.
After discovering McDonalds, pavement and the “devil’s beast” known as a car, Collins, wanders back to his beloved “Collinwood,” the mansion his descendants reside in.
While the acting was brilliant, the plot was extremely hard to follow. There were so many sub-plots I really couldn’t tell you what the main storyline was. There was some romance, some coming-of-age, some suspense, some drama and some tragedy. Yet at the same time, there was none of it. As soon as I began following the story, a new one started, creating two-hour confusion.
Because of the multiple plotlines, there was hardly any time for character development beyond Collins and the witch, Angelique, who cursed him. I had no emotional ties to characters who, in the end, turned out were relatively important to the story. It would have been better to take out minor stories and replace them with more character development.
The main premise of the movie, beyond the vampires, witches and dark magic, did not make any sense. When Collins, an only child and orphan, was turned into a vampire and locked in a coffin, he did not have any children. How then could he wake up and meet his descendants?
The setting, on the other hand, was very well done. Collins woke up in 1972, which could have been conveyed in an extremely cheesy way. The designers, however, did a great job making it seem like the 1970s without being over the top.
While I only give the movie two out of five stars, people who lived through the 1970s had more appreciation for the film and the references it made to the decade and television series. Regardless of how much I might have liked the acting, I had little appreciation for the film or its references simply because I grew up in the 1990s rather than the 1970s.
Next time, references to the Backstreet Boys and Brink might make the film more enjoyable for college students.
