Tim Burton’s sixth collaboration with Johnny Depp is a debacle. In Depp’s first bad movie since “The Astronaut’s Wife” (1998), blood and meat pies are served up by the dozen and the joys are few and far between. This film features talk-singing, a sort of mumbling diatribe that I was frankly bored by. Depp appears lifeless and most of the set pieces and mood shots seem right out of “Sleepy Hollow.” The movie goes from being quiet to loud to obnoxious to downright gruesome and I was left wondering “For what reason?” Its plot of redemption is unoriginal and was poorly executed. Go into this film with very bare expectations and you may walk away with your thumb up. If you expect a lot, prepare for a non-reward.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 5, 2008. Read the original PDF.