Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)

A wonderful dark comedy with an amazing musical score and stellar performances by Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman and most of all the talented Helena Bonham Carter who assumes the role of Mrs. Lovett with the ease of slipping into a pair of slacks.

To my amazement, when the film was over, people in the movie theater stood up and said "I liked it." Meanwhile, I'm thinking, "Of course you liked it, it's one of the finest musicals ever written" But I believe that the love people give this film is only due to Sondheim's genius source material which Burton did not add anything to. Burton could only throw his wannabe Edward Gorey style at it, play up the blood, and tell the actors to perform the whole thing without subtext. This musical is inherently FUNNY. Hello? Where was the humor? This was Depp's least funny role in a musical that SHOULD be darkly HILARIOUS? Explain that!!! And for those people who think a tragedy can't be funny look at Hamlet - that show has tons of humor and is arguably the finest work in western drama. Laughter adds dimension and makes the sad parts sadder. An overabundance of blood does not make up for cutting out the brilliant irony and swelling emotional power of the musical. If it was blood he wanted, Burton should have directed a re-make of Evil Dead. Though he no doubt would have ruined that one too.

Also more evidence of Burton's lack of respect for the musical is the fact that he cast ACTORS WHO CAN'T SING THEIR PARTS. Helena Bonham-Carter was the worst offender and literally butchered one of the greatest female characters of all time. Anything I felt for the characters was provoked by Sondheim's score. The director and the actors brought nothing. SHAME SHAME SHAME ON YOU TIM!

One of the best films of 2007, next to Pirates 3, Sweeney delivers a supurb cast with brilliant songs and numbers. The dark humour mixed with the overall grusomeness of the story works in burton's favour. Before I go on with the review i would like to say that it is an EXTREMELY violent movie, with emphisis on EXTREMELY. This film is probably not suitibale to children under 10. Anyway, it is one of the best films I've ever seen. The story plays out like a gothic fairy-tale, with deep mistones (The movie is practically black and white, with massive amounts of red).

Sweeney Todd is of course a bad guy, but we are allowed to pitty him, and we're ment to be on his and Mrs. Lovet's side. Both Bonham Carter, and Depp deliver astounding performances as actors and vocalists. The supporting cast is well done also. Although the man from "There Will be Blood" won best actor, Depp should have taken it.

Here it is Halloween, and it seems like a good time to write a review for Tim Burton's film, "Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street". This is Burton's cinematic adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's ghoulishly, over-the-top, classic Broadway musical of murder and revenge with a smile.

The story takes place in grim, urban, Victorian-era London. Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp), a skilled barber by trade, has come back to town under the new identity of 'Sweeny Todd'. For fifteen years Todd/Barker had been falsely imprisoned on trumped-up charges. This had been brought about by the self-rightious, Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who had coveted, Todd's young, pretty wife, Lucy, for himself. Todd returns home only to find out his wife has supposably died of self-poisoning and his teenage daughter, Johanna (Jayne Wisener) is now the ward of the lascivious, Judge. Todd, with the help of landlady/pie maker, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), obsessively follows through on a bloody, murderous plan to get his revenge on all those he feels "deserve to die" and ultimately get Judge Turpin into the barber's chair "for the closest shave of his life".

Sounds like black stuff, right? Well yeah, it is...black as night. But it is written as a tragedy, that has both a wink and and a small smile and a truely hummable, toe tappin' soundtrack. In the end its sort of like a perverse tribute to our culture's love of family. Its a musical for the 'Goth Kids'. But if your not into copious amounts of blood being spilled with a straight razor, while people are singing, then this isn't the film for you. For everyone else with a morbid, Charles Adams sense of humor, this movie is fantastic! Its emotionally moving, funny and entertaining! Highly recommended!

While many fans were somewhat disappointed with this version, I absolutely loved it. There are a few story changes from the original Broadway Production, and some songs are missing, but I still love the story and love the performances. Johnny Depp is spot on as usual bringing the tradegy of 'Mr. Todd' right to your heart, making you feel sorry for him, and yet scaring the hell out of you at the same time. Helena Bonham Carter has never been my favorite actress, but you can tell how much dedication she puts into 'Mrs. Lovett' and I have to say she steals the show away from Depp at many points. While she is no Angela Lansbury, she still manages to take this part and make it her own. The cast is wonderful, the music entrancing, and the overall art just amazing. A definite must own guaranteed to help you have a good time. BUY IT!