Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Musicals aren't exactly my cup of tea but this was a different cup of coffee (or maybe, slice of pie? :)). Burton obviously filmed from the heart, and spares no blood or love. And what does a quality film need besides those ingredients? Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman were all amazing. Maybe the five stars are a little too many, but I just haven't had my fill of Burton's visions yet. (03/13/2008)

Cruel and sadistic, which is why it will appeal to the era of today. It's just that sometimes I don't fit into the era of today, so I guess that's why I wasn't as impressed with Sweeney as I thought I’d be. And I was looking forward to it so much. I was expecting something different, which is fine, my ideas are always "romantic". I guess what disappointed me the most was that the story was so readable, his actions so predictable. Such a pity. But even my favorite actors and their performances didn't can’t make me give more stars... Sometimes love is cruel, but why prove it with a razor and forget it? (03/21/2008)

"Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd, his skin was pale and his eye was odd..."... thus begins the stage version of Sweeney. However, like many other songs, you won’t hear this one because it was cut from the movie. Which wouldn’t have mattered. But what Tim Burton gets up to really does matter. You couldn’t even call this copying your own ideas. But you either have to grin and bear it, or join in with his game. In terms of acting, no objections, but in terms of singing, I have a couple. I certainly wouldn’t say that Depp can’t sing (the only one I could claim that about is maybe that tragically ridiculous Spall). He proved on a few occasions that he can handle that discipline too. But the problem is that the role of the close-shaving barber is considered in musical circles to be the most difficult of all. And it can be painfully visible in the result, like it or not. Sometimes it shows a lot. Especially if you have ever seen a professional production of Sweeney. The tragedy of this character lies in the fact that he stands at the beginning of the autumn of his life. Unfortunately, the “whippersnapper" Depp can’t act this convincingly. And that applies to the entire cast, in fact. With the exception of Helena Bonham Carter and some supporting roles. Thanks to insensitive cutting, at the beginning it is a little disjointed, about nothing and almost boring. A change in the wind in favor of quality starts around the song Epiphany about half way through. Then the final twenty minutes drag the musical Burton back into the waters of solid above-average. Only just, but he’s there. (02/08/2008)

Burton's aesthetic of dark sets and faded camera filters got old a long time ago. The promise of live water in the form of musical numbers, however, only adds to the overall withering in the end. Burton is absolutely inept when it comes to the singing performances, lacking any choreography or at least a hint thereof, meaning that both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter try very unsuccessfully, even though they are otherwise really excellent. For two hours I felt a kind of unspoken reverence for the original (even Burton's right-hand man Danny Elfman is nowhere to be found), but to be honest, even Kevin Smith did better in Jersey Girl. (02/18/2008)

After a second viewing, I have to stick with three stars. Sweeney Todd simply lacks heart and its witty ending doesn’t salvage it in this sense. The violence is cold and hateful, lacking Burton’s narrative poetics (like in Sleepy Hollow, for example). Todd’s decision to become a serial killer is unjustified and doesn’t make sense. And I don’t think that the singing Johnny Depp was a good choice for the title role. The other actors, however, were superbly cast and the set designs and music are great. (01/30/2008)