Another Tim Burton Johnny Depp collaboration, Dark Shadows was released May 11, 2012 and personally I was hoping for another great yet spooky movie coming from the pair that produced Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland. My expectations going into the movie was to see another Edward Scissorhands, which would have been a much better experience than what I had at this movie.

The movie had great special effects. The plot focuses around Barnabus (Johnny Depp) and is set in the 1970’s. Being a vampire from hundreds of years before and not knowing what had happened in the years since he was buried, he continually gets himself into sticky situations while learning to adapt to his new surroundings. He returns to his old home, Collinwood Manor, to discover the home is in disrepair and his descendants are falling apart. He uncovers the secrets hidden in his modern day family and is on a quest to change what is going on in his old home.

I found the movie brought few laughs, and the dark comedy aspect was the reason I went to see the movie. However, this movie was not anywhere near as good as previous Burton-Depp works. I did however like how the movie was filmed and the effects the creators decided to use, which is common with Warner Brother’s movies, my personal favorite of the effects was the appearance of ghosts, as more of a transparent solid rather than a misty gas. Good laughs were present in the movie, one scene I found humorous was when Barnabus put a new twist on the age old saying, “I would tell you, but then I would have to kill you” by literally killing the hippies he is talking philosophy with. However, I would have liked to see more developed humor and less surface jokes, as they accounted for most of the laughs.

Overall I give this movie three out of five stars, for the reason of it not being as humorous as the trailers made it appear. However, I’m a fan of both Depp and Burtonand generally love the humor they put on. Although the comedy was underdeveloped, the jokes were still funny. The awkward situations Barnabus gets himself into do make for some great laughs. If you have the free time, the movie is worth a view but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it. I am hoping for future combinations of Depp and Burton, even along the same idea of Dark Shadows, because I could see them doing a funnier and more entertaining film.