Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Movie Reviews
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
By Mitch Emerson
December 23, 2007 - 12:54

Title: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall
Directed By: Tim Burton
Produced By: Patrick McCormick, Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes
Genre: Drama, Musical/Performing Arts, Thriller and Adaptation
Running Time: 1 hr. 57 min.
Release Date: December 21st, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating: R for graphic bloody violence.
Distributors: DreamWorks SKG, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures International

My rating: 6/10

Sweeney Todd a.k.a Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to London after being sent away by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) with the help of a sailor, Anthony Hope (Jamie Campbell Bower). He opens a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop were she sells "the worst pies in London." With the help of Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), Todd tries to get rid of all the people who have ever done him wrong and hopes to be reunited with his daughter, Johanna (Jayne Wisener), who is now Judge Turpin's ward.

I really must insist on telling you a few details about myself before continuing on to the review. And yes, it is pertinent information so don't skip ahead. First, I do not really like musicals. There are a few that I can stand like The Wizard of Oz and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The only one that I have actually liked is Across The Universe and that was more for the music than anything else. The key is that those are all contemporary musicals with either rock and roll or at least modern song structures as in the case with The Wizard Of Oz. The second thing is that the only knowledge of Sweeney Todd that I had before seeing the film was what I had gleaned from Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl. Not the best place to learn about musicals, am I right?

That being said I am of two minds about Sweeney Todd. On one hand I loved the story, but there was too much music. I know, I know it's a musical, but it is my review. I can handle musicals if there is decent ratio of dialogue to musical numbers and unfortunately, there is much more of the latter. Not only is there a ton of music but for the most part it is almost overpowering and most definitely over the top. Many repeat themes and numbers make the musical portion of Sweeney Todd a chore to really get into at times.

On the other hand, the performances and production values almost make up for the amount of music in the film. Depp is at the top of his game and mesh's very well with Helena Bonham Carter's Mrs. Lovett. Both play their parts to the brink of being over the top without following the music over the edge. Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall are delightfully creepy as Judge Turpin and his assistant Beadle Bamford. Sascha Baron Cohen really stole the show during his short appearance in the film though. His Signor Adolfo Pirelli was absolutely the most fun performance. Burton really should have kept him around longer.

In a nutshell, Tim Burton is the master at creating dark films and when you team him with Johnny Depp you know that you will get your moneys worth. Thus far Sweeney Todd is Depp and Burton's sixth collaboration together and they seem to have found their stride. And yet while Sweeney Todd worked for me on a story-telling level, the over abundance of music turned me off. I would say that Sweeney Todd is not for casual movie fans, you really should be either a real big fan of musicals or Tim Burton's biggest fan to truly appreciate Sweeney Todd.

Until Johnny Depp and Tim Burton stop making films together,
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Mitch Emerson
mitch@comicbookbin.com