MOD EDIT: This thread was split off from here.
Okay. Saw Dark Shadows. In all honesty, it's probably the best film Burton has made in twenty years, but it still isn't very good. If taken scene by scene, you could almost think it's a good movie. The way Burton works is that he films very interesting scenes of very interesting things, but has no fucking clue how to turn that into a coherent story. Most of the plot lines come from left field, and ultimately are just left out there to catch butterflies, and ignore the rest of the game. There are a few parts, mostly at the end, where you will just sit there dumbfounded, asking yourself why the fuck that just happened, and if there is anyone that you can slap for letting it happen.
That being said, it is entertaining, and there were some very subtle nods to the original show that only people who watched it will get, such as an under her breath comment that Dr. Hoffman makes about David thinking that his mom is some sort of immortal, cyclical creature, and Victoria changing her name from Maggie Evans. Speaking of Victoria changing her name from Maggie Evans, that was easily the stupidest part of the film. It was clear that it was just a nod to a character from the series that they didn't include, but it made no fucking sense, as Victoria made up the name Victoria on the train from New York to Maine, after already getting the job to be the governess, showed up at the door, said "My name is Victoria, I'm the new governess", and they were all like "Oh, yeah, come in, Victoria. We've been expecting you". No, you weren't. You were expecting Maggie Evens, you dumb shits.