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Tim Burton: Hollywood’s undisputed champion of gothic horror. Sweeney Todd: a psycho barber and famous purveyor of dodgy pies. Chaps, what took you so long? It was screamingly obvious what a gorgeous couple you would make when the curtain lifted on Stephen Sondheim’s penny dreadful in 1979. You have so much in common: a love of London’s dark and menacing streets; a penchant for jokes that only Edgar Allan Poe could possibly find funny; and an unquenchable thirst for fresh blood.
I’ve rarely seen a film director so perfectly matched to a musical. The black magic begins when Johnny Depp’s white-faced Sweeney steals up the Thames at the dead of night. As the boat slips under a spooky London Bridge it becomes quite clear that Burton was put on earth to shoot this glorious melodrama. The wonder is that it’s taken him nearly 30 years. True, most of the cast had to grow up, and a lot of clever special effects needed to be invented. I suspect the real brakes, however, were applied by studios horrified by the idea of an ‘art house musical’.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The film unfolds like the Grimmest of tales. Depp’s bitter Sweeney returns to London after 15 years of hurt. His painful story emerges in hollow songs with haunting off-key melodies. He wears his grievances like armour. His plan to murder the men who condemned him to a penal colony in order to rape his wife hinges around the dismal attic above Mrs Lovett’s ailing pie shop. The atmosphere is vintage Hammer House. The gleaming monochrome shots of cobbled streets are drained of colour.
The musical chemistry between Depp and Helena Bonham Carter’s genial cockney pie shop mistress is terrific. Casting Depp as the stony avenger was hardly a novel stretch for Burton (who has frequently collaborated with the actor) and the director didn’t have to get out of bed to find Mrs Lovett. Bonham Carter (Burton's real-life partner) hasn’t sunk her teeth into such a rich part for years. Lovett’s unreciprocated passion for Sweeney is the heart of the film and she is far more interesting than Depp. Her lightbulb idea of stuffing Sweeney’s clients into pies seems wonderfully sensible.
The film's pace is a surprise. Burton has pruned Sondheim’s arias to fit the tempo of a thriller -- brilliant editing – and the villains are far less stocky. Sacha Baron Cohen delivers a priceless cameo as a jealous unisex rival with plans to blackmail Sweeney. Alan Rickman is a sinister pleasure as Judge Turpin. And Timothy Spall is equally effective as his ultra-violent enforcer, Beadle Bamford. Several patches of fantasy don’t work, but these are few and far between.
Burton has never been one to spare the gore. The sound of skulls cracking open when Sweeney tosses his victims head first into the basement is not for the faint-hearted. The director’s knack of finding comedy in these ghastly scenes is tested to the limit. So something for everyone then.
Sweeney Todd is released in the UK on Jan 24

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This is my all-time favourite film. It's so beautiful and gothic, and the singing is perfectly fine. I can't understand why people complain! And as for the blood effects, I suppose I'm quite glad it wasn't too realistic. I was delighted by the subtle comedy and wonderful acting. 5 stars!
Rachel , Radcliffe, England
I have seen this film 5 times and i never get bored of it. It is my favourite film. When depp sings you can see the passion in his eyes and i think all the characters play the parts very well and i am truly stunned by this film, it took my breath away and gave me goosebumps.
Truly superb
Katie, Cornwall, UK
No way, are yu serious ?! this movie was brilliant !! it is probabbly one of the most beautiful and best put together films EVER . i have seen many many movies in my life, and im a very tough critic if i do say so myself, but this movie had all of it . The end made me cry ") . absolutley awesome.
karen, Naples,
i found the singing rubbish buit quit frankly didnt care as this was an amazingly put together movie with the casts fitting to there rolls perfectly
matt, lee-on-th-solent,
This was the best film I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!!
The acting was brilliant, the songs are AMAZING, I have the soundtrack. Depp is one of the few actors who can REALLY act! I went to see this movie three times. One of Burtons greatest films. Well done Johnny Depp!!!!!!
Elizabeth , London,
I saw this film last saturday,and was really disappointed. The singing was mediocre and the blood effects were amazingly unrealistic. This may have been the direction which Tim Burton was following, but I would have much preferred the gore scenes to actually include 'gore'.
I can't fault the acting though and, as always, Depp, Bonham-Carter, Rickman and Spall were amazing.
Abbie, leeds, england
I totally agree with Alan Rossati. The cast was great, the set was great and I was really, really looking forward to it. I'm a huge fan of Depp's and Bonham-Carter's, but sadly the film didn't do it for me. The singing annoyed me right from the beginning and by the halfway point I wanted to go home, it was THAT bad. I love going to the cinema and never leave before the end of the movie, so I stayed and suffered in silence. My husband fell asleep twice and afterwards, when we disussed the movie, we both laughed because had either one of us said that we wanted to leave, the other would definately have followed. When we got home, I felt like I had endured something terrible. 'nuff said.
Paola, Stockport,
LOVED IT!!! Macabre... Witty... Creative... Visual... FUN.
alimo, Stoke,
I did enjoy this film, but it is not the 'masterpiece' that others are lauding it to be.
Visually this film is rich in character typical of tim burton films, the casting was nearly perfect & the fresh corpses descending & collapsing onto the stone cellar floor is uncompromisingly brutal & engrained in my mind.
The faults come in the editing of Sondheim's score & the story-telling of the director. Early scene's introducing characters were almost entirely musical & disaffecting in their romance, clashing with the gloomy visuals. Dialogue dominated mid-way into the film, almost as a relief, & held much more gravitas in the story. Depp was too dominant throughout, undermining the sinicism of other characters, while events at the end transpired so quickly you lost any emotive connection.
Transferring stage musicals into respectable films I've always seen as incredibly difficult & will always split the opinions of the general cinema-going public. Only see if a Burton or musical fan.
michael, glasgow, scotland
I would really like to say I enjoyed it...but I can't! The sets were great, it had the mood and feel of old London and a great cast but why, oh why all that bloody singing??? I realise it was a musical but I can only think of about 2 or 3 minutes of actual unsung dialogue; art house meets crack house methinks! Shame really, I was looking forward to it. C'est la vie!
Alan Rossati, Freshwater, Isle of Wight
i was extremely disappointed!!!!
there was way too much singing, more than the classical musicals and the actors voices were mismatched to say the least. i came so close to walking out after hearing joannas name in a song for about the 50th time. i think the film would have been better with less song and more acting as it had evrything to do this. definately over rated
london west 12, london,
Went to see the preview of this film and I can honestly say I feel robbed! This is the worst film I have ever seen. There was too much "singing", the story was real slow at building up, the blood looked like Dulux Red Stallion Emulsion. I have never seen so many people walk out of a film. This film is very overrated!
Sarah Fletcher, Doncaster, UK
A veiw from the uneducated possibly, but !
Absolute trash ! i need someone to explain what was entertaining about poor lyrics poor voices characters that we all know but were hardly captivating.
Only watched it because "I am Legend ", was fully booked.
A callout would have been more satisfying & i dont get paid for them.
Pirreli Dipstick, Darlington, England
It reminded me of the macabre pleasure I had at the Edinburgh Toy Museum watching a mechanical marionette version of Sweeney Todd dispatching a puppet victim and the body falling through the trap door ( 30 odd years ago ).
However, in my humble opinion this film is not without flaws.
The plot isn't perfect and leaves little time for most of the characters to develop since Depp occupies centre stage too often and seems to be carrying the film.
Musically the film is a big let down. Whilst the leads have decent voices, they lack the power to bring the songs to life. Each becomes one unmemorable dirge blurring into the next.
I think Burton obviously had a dilemma; either choose immensely talented actors or great singers who would not command the screen. In the past this would have been solved by dubbing the actors voices with trained singers and perhaps this should have been the way to do it.
Great fun - but like Mrs Lovetts pies, a bit half baked in places.
Garry, York, UK
I could go on for hours but I won't. I will make this very simple. This is a "masterpiece". No other word for it, loved it from start to finish. Truly stunning!
Graham Richardson, Birmingham,
Hang on a minute, Dan in Chicago paid $9.50? We're getting seriously ripped off here in the UK. I paid £7.40 plus £0.65 booking fee - and that was in deepest Berkshire never mind London!
Amber, Berkshire,
Wonderful. The chemistry between Depp and Bonham Carter is marvellous. And so much (intentionally) OTT acting from the support characters. Almost lost for words when I left the cinema.
Bob, Welliington, Somerset
Please don't waste your money on this excuse for entertainment. Johnny Depp reprises his role as Captain Jack Sparrow but without any of the character and without having improved his mockney accent. Helena Bonham Carter is more interesting to watch but with a less convincing accent than Johnny Depp's. Sweeney Todd's daughter is not convincing or a joy to look at or to listen to, and neither is her wooer who sounds and looks like a "castrati". The songs are far too long, dry and emotionless and the diction is so bad that you miss out on a lot of the points they are presumably trying to get across. Some parts of the cinematography that have been ripped straight out of Moulin Rouge, and other visual elements straight out of Tim Burton's own infinitely superior Corpse Bride. I am a huge fan of Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp but this was a huge disappointment. Timothy Spall however shined and appeared to be in his element.
Amber, Berkshire,
This is the darkest, most distrurbing vision of Sondheim's masterwork that I have ever seen and it's grand guignol violence is certainly not for the faint-hearted. Depp inherits
Todd's obsessions as though they were his own personal demons. Bonham Carter superbly plays (and sings) the husk of a down-trodden woman with a mind of her own (and her own unrequited obsession with Todd).
The switch between the 'real' CGI world and the monochrome of the characters' everyday lives is unusually effective and creates a frighteningly appropriate world of its own.
I am even more in admiration of Sondheim after seeing this film and Buron has directed a film that is a work of great art. The sound of crunching, shattered corpses onto the cobble stones beneath Todd's shop will, like Sondheim's melodies, haunt me forever. An unforgettable, if unsettling, experience.
clive burton, London,
I hope this film comes to my Town in France, version orginale, because I think Johnny Depp is one of the finest American actors and would see any film he was in.
Bettina Mills, Rivieres, France
This movie may be the single biggest piece of garbage I have ever seen. They took my nine fifty at the window and gave me absolutely nothing in return. I felt like they just took from me again throughout the whole thing. No hero, no story, no real humor, absolutely nothing. There was nothing at all up there. What a change from the guy that made Edward Scissorhands, which was one of the more beautiful movies I've ever seen. This was basically the opposite. It was like the work of a child armed with 100 million dollars.
Dan, Chicago, il
Simon, you are a sad man. Sondheim is an incredibly talented musician. It does take a little bit of musical education and experience to appreciate his talents, but then, he never intended his music to be for the Mary Poppins aficionados.
Seanie - witty observation.
I, too, cannot wait to se it.
Marc, St. Barths,
Fabulous! Sondheim himself oversaw the filming of his brilliant musical and it was his preference for actors who can sing over singers who can act was right on - Depp & Bonham-Carter make up in intensity what they lack vocally, but both are, in fact, very passable singers.
Jacky Finch, Toronto, Canada
I saw it! Marvelous!! A Bloody Love Story of Revenge and Bone-Breaking .
Nick Murphy, Repentigny, Quebec , Canada
If he can make a decent flick out of Sondheim's typically dull melodies and tedious scoring, it will be a miracle. But I have faith in Burton.
Simon, London, UK
Well worth the price of admission. Sondheim's brilliant music is more or less intact and the actors,with microphone techniques, make it convincing. The only weakness was that, though Bonham-Carter's look is perfect for the role, her voice didn't quite carry the very witty lyrics given to Mrs. Lovett.
ross, Woodstock, Canada
Seen it, loved it, Go watch it!
dmo, Stanstead, Herts
I Can't wait for Tim Burton film on Joe Meek with Johnny Depp.
That will be something.
Tulio, London,
Can't wait! Burton, Depp and Bonham-Carter - what a trio!
Paul, Glasgow, Scotland
"The gleaming monochrome shots of cobbled streets are drained of colour."
Yep, that's generally what happens with monochrome.
Tsk.
seanie, London,