Tim Burton is a master of gothic movies. We have also seen he can add musical numbers to his movies in "nightmare before christmas". That being said I was still unsure if he could pull off a live action musical with his usual dark twist.
Most know the story of Sweeny Todd or have itleast heard the name. In this version we find Sweeny arriving back in London after being flasly accused of a crime 15 years before. He was known as Ben Barker back then and he was a barber with great skill. He also had a beautiful wife and baby daughte. However the jealous judge Turpin (played by Alan Rickman) wants Barkers wife Lucy to himself and sends him to Australia. When Barker escapes and returns and meets with Mrs Lovett the pie maker (Helena Bohnam Carter - Tim Burtons partner).She tells Barker (now under his alias sweeny todd) that his wife killed herself sometime after her husbands dissaperance. Turpin has adopted Todds daughter and is thought to be the reason
for Lucy's suicide. Todd is hellbent on revenge and sets about getting it, taking many others aswel. I wont go too mcuh more into the plot but thats the general synopisis!
Johnny Depp is pretty good as Todd. He sings rather well for someone not known for it! His duets with Carter work well and their on screen chemistry is as good as ever. He gives a dark and slightly comedic representatin of Todd. It may not be intentionally comedic but after the pirates movies it is harder to take him seriously! I thought I would feel no fear of Depp due to him being Sparrow but dont worry as I was wrong, he is eerily scary in some scenes. As i have said Carter is good too. Her singing is not the best and can be annoying but overall she gets a tumbs up! Alan Rickman cant do anything wrong in my opinion as he features in Diehard (which rules). He isnt the best singer again but he doesnt do too much. There are a few oter decent supporting roles from the likes of Sacha baron Cohen but none worth nominating for an oscar!
The music is good. It sets the tension well and can be enjoyable. The singing is my main problem as I find it far too frequent. With nightmare before Crimbo the songs were here and there. In this movie they are every 10 seconds and it soon becomes annoying. I found it hard to take in all that they were saying and so didnt enjoy the plot progression as much! The lyrics are good if you listen hard but the songs themselves are not too memorable, which is unfortunate as fans on the Nightmare movie all remember the Jack skeleton song: "Whats this,Whats this theres something over there"etc!
The effects are amazing. Im pretty sure that everything is done using supreb make-up and stunts and props! As you can imagine there are many throat cuts. You see these in great detail and I was very impressed by how realistic they were!
The sets are great, its old school London but everything reminds me of Gotham city from burtons Batman.It feels as if everywhere is haunted! A great atmosphere develops due to this and it helps to bring the audiance into the movie!
There are some great camera tricks used in this movie that I wont spoil for you but its worth keeping an eye out for when the camera pans over scnery or up to the sky!
Tim Burton does a great job with the direcion, everything flows very smoothly and the scene changes just work exceptionally allowing a very pleasent watch. The script too is good as I have said and this is very good adaptation!
The DVD isnt worth getting until it falls a bit more in price. I reckon it will be £5 before christmas so you might aswel wait for that. Anything more and I simply don't think its worth it. The two disc edition offers quite a few decent special features. You get a look at the history of Sweeny Todd which is very interesting. You also get a look at recreating Fleet Street, as I have said I enjoyed the scenery and props so I liked this but I could understand someone finding this rather boring! I would not buy this DVD for the features however as they are not the greatest. A simply commentry by Burton of Sounheim would have been nice!
A good move, not an oscar winner in my view, not even Depps performance. This i worth a rental before you buy as it is a bit like marmite. Whilst I enjoyed it my girlfriends wasn't too thrilled by it and especially hated the singing, which if musicals arn't your thing are going to annoy you!
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1992 - Music / Performing Arts - Original Language: English - Classification: Exempt - Starring: Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon, David Bowie, Def Leppard, Extreme, Elton John, Bob Geldof
Production Year: 1999 - Music / Performing Arts - Original Language: English - Classification: Exempt - Starring: Donny Osmond, Joan Collins, Richard Attenborough
Aug 10th, 2008
very helpful by (100%):
