CAST INTO THE DARK SHADOWS
Dark humour...
Comedy brought forward within morbidity.
Sometimes I admire how Tim Burton came up with such a distinctive style to call his own. I have yet seen anything like this before. From the dark Edward Scissorshand to the colourful candy factory of Willy Wonka, Burton has never failed to make his narratives a tad more interesting.
Having said that, Burton has his fair share of not so successful work, well, in my opinion that is.
I was generally not that impressed with the highly anticipated "Corpse Bride", to be frank, as the story had managed to just slip right out of my mind right after one and a half hours of watching it.
"Dark Shadows" will be classified under the group in between "Corpse Bride" and "Willy Wonka"...
The film opens to a promising story but then spirals down to a disappointing ending.
Vampire love stories - not something new anymore but I give Kudos to Tim Burton for making it slightly different.
What the film lacks, in my opinion, is character development.
Yes, each and every single character is "poor" - there were no clues leading to the revelation of the character's secret. The secret just pops out in no relation to whatever that has happened. In addition, there were too many loopholes in terms of the characters and the background of the story.
For example, the Carolyn the werewolf.
It was revealed that she is a werewolf (after Angelique sends a werewolf to bite her when she was a baby) at the end but besides her being constantly 'high', there's nothing that writes towards her being a werewolf at the beginning.
Weird is that Carolyn's mother doesn't even know that? How so? If your baby turns to a wolf during fullmoon, wouldn't you notice?
The love story between Barnabas Collins and Joseth is also unconvincing. Why would Barnabas choose her instead of Angelique? At the beginning, when little Barbanas looked at Little Angelique, there seemed to be a connection - by why later, would he fall for Joseth? That part was not explained.
The end, he said to Angelique, "You don't love me, you just want to possess me...You don't have a heart."
And it turns out that she does have a heart...but Johnny Depp's last scene wasn't even a tad touching. Was it supposed to be so? Burton's sense of humour?
Another part that doesn't quite click was that at the end, Angelique somehow happens to be a mannequin. How is that?
Joseth's ghost had asked Victoria to help her...help her with what?
Is Victoria Joseth's?
How did Victoria fall in love with Barnabas? They didn't even do anything together - oh well, perhaps that's what we call love at first sight...A tad ridiculous for me, but heck, what do I know.
If you ask me, the story needs to be much developed in order to be better.
This is just plain and normal - shouldn't be when it has such a star-studded cast.
The only saving grace is the stellar performances by its cast - Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer and always over-the-top Helena Bonham Carter. They cleverly injected sense of humour into the dark setting of the movie. Only Depp can make a monster drinking human blood so...freakily hilarious.
I also particularly like the choice of music in the movie - quite a unique combo. For a dark movie to be able to use such vibrant tone of music is really something outstanding. From Beatles to The Carpenter's Top of The World, I find the ironic upbeat music a refreshing addition to Burton's morbid style.
Generally, it wasn't a bad movie as you wouldn't fall asleep, but there's nothing much of a take-home either. Basically, after you watch this one, you wouldn't go home feeling satisfied and awed.
TC-My Ratings:
Love,
TammyC
The film opens to a promising story but then spirals down to a disappointing ending.
Vampire love stories - not something new anymore but I give Kudos to Tim Burton for making it slightly different.
What the film lacks, in my opinion, is character development.
Yes, each and every single character is "poor" - there were no clues leading to the revelation of the character's secret. The secret just pops out in no relation to whatever that has happened. In addition, there were too many loopholes in terms of the characters and the background of the story.
For example, the Carolyn the werewolf.
It was revealed that she is a werewolf (after Angelique sends a werewolf to bite her when she was a baby) at the end but besides her being constantly 'high', there's nothing that writes towards her being a werewolf at the beginning.
Weird is that Carolyn's mother doesn't even know that? How so? If your baby turns to a wolf during fullmoon, wouldn't you notice?
The love story between Barnabas Collins and Joseth is also unconvincing. Why would Barnabas choose her instead of Angelique? At the beginning, when little Barbanas looked at Little Angelique, there seemed to be a connection - by why later, would he fall for Joseth? That part was not explained.
The end, he said to Angelique, "You don't love me, you just want to possess me...You don't have a heart."
And it turns out that she does have a heart...but Johnny Depp's last scene wasn't even a tad touching. Was it supposed to be so? Burton's sense of humour?
Another part that doesn't quite click was that at the end, Angelique somehow happens to be a mannequin. How is that?
Joseth's ghost had asked Victoria to help her...help her with what?
Is Victoria Joseth's?
How did Victoria fall in love with Barnabas? They didn't even do anything together - oh well, perhaps that's what we call love at first sight...A tad ridiculous for me, but heck, what do I know.
If you ask me, the story needs to be much developed in order to be better.
This is just plain and normal - shouldn't be when it has such a star-studded cast.
The only saving grace is the stellar performances by its cast - Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Michelle Pfeiffer and always over-the-top Helena Bonham Carter. They cleverly injected sense of humour into the dark setting of the movie. Only Depp can make a monster drinking human blood so...freakily hilarious.
I also particularly like the choice of music in the movie - quite a unique combo. For a dark movie to be able to use such vibrant tone of music is really something outstanding. From Beatles to The Carpenter's Top of The World, I find the ironic upbeat music a refreshing addition to Burton's morbid style.
Generally, it wasn't a bad movie as you wouldn't fall asleep, but there's nothing much of a take-home either. Basically, after you watch this one, you wouldn't go home feeling satisfied and awed.
TC-My Ratings:
Love,
TammyC
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