Movie Reviews

Paramount Pictures

Review in a Hurry:  Want a nightmare before Christmas? Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd with director Tim Burton's gory and gorgeous adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical. As the titular barber, Johnny Depp gleefully slits throats while partner in crime, Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), bakes the sliced-and-diced corpses into meat pies. Mmm...Chow down on this deliciously demented fare.

The Bigger Picture:  Sondheim aficionados can breathe a sigh of relief. After disappointing screen versions of his Broadway hits (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, A Little Night Music), Sondheim's material finds a perfect match in Burton (Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride), who knows a thing or two about creating darkly comic worlds. And it doesn't get much darker than Sweeney.

The twisted yarn starts with Benjamin Barker (Depp) returning to London after escaping from 15 years of false imprisonment in Australia. Barker vows to kill the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) and the oily Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall) who sent him away on trumped-up charges so Turpin could steal his wife, Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly), and baby daughter, Johanna.

Barker's back, bitch, only now he calls himself Sweeney Todd. He opens a tonsorial parlor above the pie shop run by Mrs. Lovett , who dreams of love and luxury with Todd. But the bitter barber has only murder on his mind, especially when he learns of Turpin's lecherous intentions toward teenaged Johanna (Jayne Wisener).

Todd's vengeance soon extends beyond the judge to, well, everyone. "They all deserve to die!" he sings and offs customer after customer by slashing their jugulars. The ever resourceful Mrs. Lovett uses the human flesh as filling for her pies, devoured by an unsuspecting public.

Burton has shaved the stage show's three-hour running time down to two by snipping songs and trimming scenes, without sacrificing any of the original's razor wit and tragic beauty. He brings his signature visual style to 19th century London—an expressionistic, monochromatic production design that makes the literal splashes of blood-red pop even more.

With a ghostly pallor and shock of white hair in his wild black mane, Depp looks like the love child of Edward Scissorhands and the Bride of Frankenstein. More brooding than manic, as the role is often portrayed, Depp wisely underplays his obsession and madness and emotionally anchors all the melodrama. Depp and Carter—also more restrained here—aren't seasoned singers, but what they lack in sparkling high notes, they make up for with performances of great depth.

If you're not familiar with Sondheim's musical, don't let show tunes and spurting arteries scare you away. This killer Sweeney is thrillingly executed from start to splatter-ific finish.

The 180—a Second Opinion:  Are you Jack Sparrow fans looking for some yo ho ho? Then mateys, you've sailed off course into the wrong movie! This is no Pirates of the Victorian, and Depp's Todd has a heart that's blacker than any cursed pearl. Aye, you should wait for The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie.