In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet�or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy...until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better, each harboring their own dark secrets.
I'm kind of torn on this movie. I enjoyed watching it but I'm pretty sure that it was solely based on Johnny Depp's charisma. He's part of an elite group of actors that I find it almost impossible to not enjoy his work. If it were anyone else in this movie, I probably would have pulled the plug on it for pretty much not caring about the story because there really isn't a hook that keeps you attached. It's just that it's Johnny Depp. There are laughs and it's pretty well paced, but honestly - it's just kind of there. And there was no reason for this to be a summer release. None at all.
Again - I enjoyed it because I like Johnny Depp . . . . . . especially when he is working with Tim Burton. But take him out of this movie and it's really not too good of a movie. Sorry, I can't really do much better than that.
