Well, the Angelique's breasts bit is certainly overt, but the "biggest and most wonderful balls" remark is not. And as with the panties sequence, I do honestly think it's in keeping with Angelique character. It's taken to a more explicit place than we've previously seen - but it is well within character. And I have no problem with it being more explicit. Some of the stuff in the '91 DS was more explicit than the original show - and it's pretty much only to be expected things would be more explicit in a film.
See I was fine with everything in 1991, because it was
serious. (I actually love the 1991 series and watch it every year.) Granted, it may have been a little too serious at times, but some of this is just plain silly. I don't mind things being overt as long as there is a justifiable reason. The panties thing (as much as I don't like it in
Dark Shadows) is fine. I get that it's in character for Angelique. The "biggest balls" comment just kind of falls into the same category as the "boob joke" for me. They're both coming from Barnabas, and I don't particularly care for him saying those things. And the more that Barnabas says these silly things (knowingly or unknowingly), the less happy I am with this characterization and the project as a whole. I think we all know I was hoping for these types of comments to be minimized (They could still be, but this marketing is not helping me believe that). Based on these commercials alone, if this project weren't called
Dark Shadows, I wouldn't even bat an eye: It would be a definite "must miss" film for me. I was giving it a lot of leeway because I wanted to like it for the sake of our beloved show. (I may still.) But if something mind-blowingly fantastic doesn't pop up in the next few weeks, I'm probably going to sit the first weekend out. My excitement has dwindled and my hope is being chipped away.
I really, really like the score, and would be all over it if it were for a new project that wasn't based on a previous series where the music was as big of a character as the main vampire. Elfman's score is pretty fantastic, but it's nowhere near as beautiful as Bob Cobert's music for the 1991 series. And without the main theme, it just ends up falling flat as a score for
Dark Shadows imo. I can enjoy it on its own, but the main theme (since we aren't getting Quentin's or Josette's) is really that important to me. Bob Cobert could have scored this thing with all new music and if he didn't include at least one of the classic themes, I'd have said the same thing. To be honest, I don't really need the
Dark Shadows theme song in every Dark Shadows project. (I love NoDS and it doesn't have it.) But I need, at least, one of Cobert's main musical elements. Without one, it's like calling something Dark Shadows and not having a house called Collinwood. It's that important to me. And if I find out that it's in there, I'll be at the movie opening weekend for sure - no matter how many corny jokes Barnabas makes.