Sweeney Todd, Ed Wood and Big Fish are some of the very few cases I disagree with you on James.

So unlike most of the times I'm not gonna trust your review on Dark Shadows.

That's pretty much my opinion as well, in spades.

I have to also agree that Tim Burton is a great art director but not so adept at editing,pacing or telling a good story. The only one of his films that I did enjoy was Ed Wood but the rest was meh. Even when I saw Batman when it first came out I thought it was terrible but not as bad as Planet of the Apes where the ending had me almost throwing something at the screen.I think he needs to be teamed with stronger producer,writer and editor to rein in his bad tendencies of choosing style over any kind of substance.It worked for Lucas on Star Wars and Empire and then when he broke his shackles off and controled everything the quality went through the floor.

Don't blame Burton for the failure that was "Apes" -- it was more the half-baked script than anything else.

That is the problem in many of his movies not just Apes.His Corpse Bride is another mediocre piece of writing. What is funny even when he is given a solid script in Sweeney Todd it still feels like there is no momentum or energy.He either doesn't care or just has no touch in how to tell a good story.

Those other films at least had charm going for them; "Apes" didn't even have that.

Saw it yesterday mainly because I had a free ticket. Found it to be solidly entertaining if nothing else. Not a Burton classic like Beetlejuice or Ed Wood. But better than a mediocrity like Planet Of The Apes.

This was definitely better than the trailers would have you think. It's pretty uneven, but you could do A LOT worse.