My function returns the number of elements in array for multidimensional arrays subject to depth of array. (Almost COUNT_RECURSIVE, but you can point on which depth you want to plunge).
<?php
 function getArrCount ($arr, $depth=1) {
 if (!is_array($arr) || !$depth) return 0;
 
 $res=count($arr);
 
 foreach ($arr as $in_ar)
 $res+=getArrCount($in_ar, $depth-1);
 
 return $res;
 }
?>