My Dear Johnny

We all know how much I LOVE Johnny Depp. So when he came out with Dark Shadows, I was more than excited to go and watch it! I went to Alamanda with Farhan yesterday for a 5.00 pm show. 

The intro took us back in 1500s and looked pretty promising albeit some tweaks here and there that could have made it perfect. And then we were on to the adventure where this very 70s looking girl (she’s really pretty and fit the 70s profile to a T) was on the train to Johnny Depp’s estate and met with his family. I’m not going to go into the details but brace yourself for the ree-viu.

You see, I don’t have any problem with the premises of a dysfunctional family, quirky love story and vampires etc. But this movie was quite a disappointment I must say. Everything looked like they were rushed to fit into that 1 1/2 hour segment. In the end, the plots failed to relate to one another. Of course, the movie to a certain extent was entertaining thanks to the comedic lines and the typical “Jack Sparrow” flair. And I thought the lady who played the witch was good too, except that I think her role fit more of a vampire than that of a witch.  There were moments when the movie reminded me of Arrested Development, Adam’s Family, Beetlejuice and Corpse Bride. Now, if really Tim Burton meant for the movie to have the mixture of all four (although he wasn’t the director for all four), the idea was great and doable but it failed on the execution. 

I like Helena Carter, I think she's always brilliant in movies. But in this movie I cannot help but wonder why on earth did her character exist - it was just unnecessary. Why would Tim turn the teenage girl into a werewolf is still a mystery to me. And why the 70s good looking girl followed her ancestor's step by jumping off the cliff when she was supposed to break the curse by not jumping did not tele with the moral of the story. Throughout the movie, I kept on waiting for Michelle Pfeiffer to betray her family because she had that cunning look on her  but she didn't betray them, in fact she pulled them together - so why did Tim let her put that conniving face all the time?

In the end, when we left the cinema Farhan pointed out the obvious, “What’s the point of that movie again?”