Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [2007]

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
After years of rumours, it turns out that Tim Burton was the perfect visionary to film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim's Broadway masterpiece, and the result is a macabre and moving musical movie as enthralling as anything Burton has ever done. The show's mix of gothic horror, Grand Guignol, very dark humor, and witty and beautiful music never was the stuff of traditional musical comedy, but it's a powerful work, and perhaps the richest of the late 20th century. In the movie, Burton's frequent collaborator, Johnny Depp, plays Todd, a wronged man whose lust for revenge drives him to murder (an 19th-century legend who has been traced to a real-life barber). Helena Bonham Carter, another Burton mainstay, is Mrs. Lovett, the barber's partner-in-unspeakable-crime. It's no surprise that Depp is an excellent choice to convey Todd's brooding intensity and volcanic rage, but he can also sing a score that is so challenging it has often played in opera houses (though not with the same style as the Broadway original, Len Cariou, and he occasionally lapses into pop style). Bonham Carter is small of voice and lacks the humour of the original Broadway Lovett, Angela Lansbury, but she sings on pitch, in rhythm, and in character at the same time, which is no small feat for a Sondheim show. Aficionados will regret the loss of certain musical passages--"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" is just an instrumental overture and the chorus is gone altogether, among others, but the reassuring presence of orchestrator Jonathan Tunick and conductor Paul Gemignani ensures that the music feels right and sounds great. And the film's depiction of a Victorian London hellhole, with cinematography by Dariusz Wolski and costumes by Colleen Atwood, also looks and feels right.

The excellent cast is filled out by Alan Rickman as the villainous Judge Turpin, Timothy Spall as his seedy Beadle, Sacha Baron Cohen as a rival barber, Jamie Campbell Bower as the young lover Anthony, Jayne Wisener as his object of affection, and Ed Sanders as the young Toby. For fans of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp who don't think they like musicals, Sweeney Todd should be a revelation (though not for the squeamish, as the gore is intense and completely appropriate). For fans of Broadway and Sondheim, it's hard to imagine getting a better adaptation than this. The fact that there's no newly composed Oscar-bait song sung by a Josh Groban-type over the end credits only makes it better. --David Horiuchi

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-07-04 rating:
Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd
Well, well, well, what can I say? After seeing this film the first time I got hooked and I watched it over and over and over again.
You see, with most films you can watch them two or three times and that's it. But with Sweeney Tood, much like a CD, you can watch more than two or three times as it's the music that captivates you, in the same way you can listen to a CD more than two or three times. It's more like a visual musical concept album, with 70% singing and 30% talking.
On top of that the scenery is breathtakingly dark and gothic, as you'd expect from a Tim Burton film. The characters are not trained singers, but by all means they're not bad at all. I was very impressed with it all, as it was Johnny Depp's first time singing, he obviously has (another) huge talent which has been hidden away until gave it a shot in playing the role as The Demon Barber.

Now a lot of people have complained in other reviews that they did not now this was a musical and were disappointed when they saw that it was. But don't a few other Tim Burton films have a lot of music and singing? Nightmare Before Chritmas, Corpse Bride...
I'm not afraid to say I wouldn't have been as hooked on Sweeney Todd had it not been a musical so, for me, the music and singing bettered it.
It's not all slash and horror either, in fact there is not much blood at all about this, the story goes much deeper than slitting throats - it's a very sad love story, with a lot of craving for vengeance. And the ending is... well... I'll let you see for yourself. Let's just say it's quite unforgettable.

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review by: date: 2008-06-29 rating:
Just short of Perfect
I like the myth of Sweeney Todd, I quite like musicals and I love the combination of Burton and Depp; so why not a 5 I hear you cry.

Well, the setting is brilliant; the atmosphere is typically dark and Burtonesque. The casting is spot-on, I can't think of a single character in this film that could have been portrayed any better, even Sacha Baron Cohen slipped into the part perfectly. And finally the tale is told extremely well with some nice twists and plenty of gore.

What annoyed me were the songs, most of them were pretty good and some were great; maybe Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall should have been excused from singing though. I just felt that there were too many songs and not enough dialogue, it's a small niggle and I still like the film, but be careful if you don't like musicals, because more than half of the film is song.

4/5

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review by: date: 2008-06-23 rating:
Average, but worth watching
Well, I had been looking forward to this one for a while. With the success of "Nightmare Before Christmas" and "The Corpse Bride", the prospect of another Tim Burton film was very exciting. This and the fact that 'Burton' had teamed up with Johnny Depp yet again could only mean good things were afoot.

Unfortunately I found the film lacking visually in comparison with Burton's other classics. As expected the scenery was dark and gothic but that's where it ends. The peeling wall paper was about as good as it got visually.

That aside Depp's portrayal of Todd was sensational and, surprisingly, so were his vocals. As with his other roles of this nature Depp really captures the the viewer with his dark, mysterious and slightly insane character, and somehow still managing to inject some of his trademark humor.

All in all the story and acting were amazing but the whole film was let down by the lack of Burton's usual visuals. Because of this I've rated it with 3 stars but still recommend it to watch, maybe only once though.

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review by: Observer date: 2008-06-23 rating:
Pushing the Boundaries.
A Tim Burton movie has the instant provenance of a precious artifact. With that provenance comes a degree of responsibility and great expectation from an adoring audience. Sweeney Todd illustrates Burton's seemly limitless emagination and aesthetic individuality. Of course this significant undertaking is delivered with great understatement by Burtons brigade of ensemble actors.
My facination with this particular movie was somewhat undermined by the feeling it was emblazoned rather than embellished with Tim Burtons unique signature.
A fantastic achievement and a milestone in movie making, the triumphs of which detacted from the narrative and characterisation, somehow.
Perhaps it warrants another viewing?



review by: date: 2008-06-23 rating:
bloody great
Stephen sondheims famous musical about sweeney todd the demon barber of fleet street comes to the cinema screen. Starring johnny deep and helena bonham carter in the tale of the barber and the pie shop owner who kill people and put their remains in pies whilst plotting revenge against the judge who sent sweeney to australia years before. a cautionary tale about how revenge can consume you, this features superb performances from all the cast and some excellent singing. The musical has had several songs altered and some cut in order to make it work for the big screen, so it's not quite what theatre goers will recall, but the majority survives fine.

Note that:

This is a musical. characters burst into song quite a lot of the time. But don't let that put you off because it works superbly. they are very good singers as well.

It's a 18 certificate, because it doesnt skimp on the gory details of throats being cut by sweeney.

But beyond that, it's a masterpiece of design and acting and great music, and a compelling spectacle that is one of the best films of the year.

This two disc edition features an english language track, and subtitlse in english arabic greek hebrew and icelandic. on both the discs.

the first features the movie, with direct scene access.

and the second has a good array of extras:

a twenty five minute long documentary on the making of the film, which is very comprehensive, called burton + depp + carter = todd

documentaries on the stage show, london of the time, and the actual history of the character [as to whether he was real or not] all absolutely fascinating.

a documentary on grand guignol, a type of rather gory theatre that were plays similar to this. interesting but a bit preturbing.

documentaries about the design of the film, how the effects for the throat cuts were done, a photo gallery of stills from the film the making of it and the design of it, and razors refrain, which plays snippets of the songs over more stills.

great film. and an excellent package for it

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