Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have proven to be such a winning combination, cinematically, that it doesn't seem at all surprising that they teamed up to bring the campy, cult 60's soap opera "Dark Shadows" back into theaters.
Depp seems perfectly at home in the undead skin of Barnabas Collins, a cursed vampire who is awakened after 200 years of bondage into a world of McDonalds restaurants and Scooby-Doo cartoons. He is a lovable outsider (like other Depp characters before) who just happens to crave the taste of human blood. His Barnabas is charmingly out of touch with life in 1972, but Depp gives in to the fun and creates a complex, comical character.
The film is extremely well cast, with Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonny Lee Miller, Chloe Grace Moretz, and Gulliver McGrath as the other members of the Collins family, Bella Heathcoate as new governess Victoria Winters (who just happens to be the spitting image of Barnabas' true love Josette), Eva Green, deliciously nasty as the immortal witch Angelique, and in a howling hoot of an over-the-top performance, Helena Bonham Carter as the family's live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman.
The film's costume designer and production designer get major props for the look of the film: the family estate, Collinwood, is in a state of gloriously opulent decay, and the clothing is a mix of early 70's kitsch and styles more reminiscent of Barnabas' time (the late 1700s).
As far as Burton films go, this one is definitely more "Beetlejuice" than "Batman", meaning it tempers its darkness with humor, although much of the humor will definitely be lost on audience members who weren't around in the early 70's.
"Dark Shadows" succeeds as a campy, fun picture, with just enough bite (you knew I'd have to make that pun eventually) to keep you entertained.
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