New ogre role for Depp

DEPP (LEFT) AND PFEIFFER. Their tongues are firmly in cheek.

JOHNNY Depp has made a career out of turning outcasts, disfigured freaks and other oddball ogres into likable protagonists: Edward Scissorhands, Jack Sparrow, Willy Wonka, Sweeney Todd, and the Mad Hatter. Now, the actor is cast as the cursed vampire, Barnabas Collins, in Tim Burton’s big-screen adaptation of the ’60s TV series, “Dark Shadows.”

What Depp does is more than just create memorable characters—he portrays them as misunderstood but “relatable” beings whose dilemma reflects man’s struggle against his inner demons—and he breathes life into them with his tongue firmly in cheek!

Barnabas’ troubles began in the 18th century when, as a rich and inveterate playboy, he broke the heart of love-struck Angelique (Eva Green)—who just happened to be a witch! Angelique then turned him into a vampire and buried him alive!

Some 197 years later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the hippy, happy era of the ’70s, when his family’s once-prodigious estate has fallen on hard times! Behind the Collins’ misfortune is the spell that Angelique—now a fishing magnate—cast on them.

Mysterious governess

Collinwood Manor’s dysfunctional residents include Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer, who’s lovelier than ever) and her daughter; Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz); Liz’s brother, Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), and his son, David (Gulliver McGrath); the constantly inebriated caretaker, Willy (Jackie Earle Haley); the mysterious governess, Victoria (Bella Heathcote), and their live-in psychiatrist, Dr. Julia Hoffman (the feisty Helena Bonham Carter). Barnabas’ return signals the Collins’ return to power—but, not if Angie has her way!

Trust Burton’s yarn-spinning flair to put some magic into the cautionary, gothic tales he brings to the screen. His eighth collaboration with Depp isn’t faultless (Moretz’s unexpected “transformation” comes from out of nowhere)—but, the strange parallel world he cleverly conjures up is still guaranteed to sweep viewers off their feet. Depp finds a worthy nemesis in the voluptuous Green, who shines as Barnabas’ scorned chambermaid.

In Burton’s limitless imagination, the dangerous world Barnabas and Angelique inhabit “gleams” with mischief, merry-making, mayhem and murder!—Would that other vampire movies could be as irreverently idiosyncratic.

Unfortunately, Burton amps up the kitsch in the film’s second half—which is a pity, because more than anything, it’s the production’s unpredictably ornery elements that give the movie its kick. As a result, the overtly winking tack dilutes the film’s initial impact.

Just the same, Burton’s cult-series reboot is timely, because its coterie of witches, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts and other creatures that go bump in the night are in high demand these days!