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 - A Close Shave To PerfectionThe back allies of London have been host to many of the most revered 19th century pieces of literature, spawining some of the greatest stories, protagonists and villians: such as Charlies Dickins' Oliver Twist, H.G. Wells' the Invisible Man, and Sir Arther Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. One of the more underated London-based books "the String of Pearls", or better known to Broadway as Sweeney Todd, has finally joined his brothers of extrodinary literature in the silver screen as the musical "Sweeney Todd- The Demon Barber of Fleet Street". Todd's tale was one of the biggest broadway bangs when it debut. Keeping with the style of broadway music, Tim Burton recuits the likes of Johnny Deep and Alan Rickmen(with Timothy Spall as his servent, figures) to yodel their tales of truimph and terror with surprising success. The orchastrated score was kept simple, but devistating none the less, all musical numbers where preformed to the apex of quality, for both the prefomers and the band. I would expect nothing less, this was an award winning musical after all. For those who don't know about the hack-n-slash tale, Sweeney Todd(Deep), a gifted barber, arrives in gothic London after serving a false account of rape in labour camp for 15 years. After visiting his old shop, Todd devises a plot with the baker/land lady, Mrs. Lovett(Carter), to despose of the corrupt Judge Turnip(Rickman) that locked him away, making a healthy deposit of other human casulties to the bake furnace for pies along the way. Many aspects fo Todd's and Turpin's character looked as if they where taken from a Jean ValJean(Les Miserable) led, or should I say kept, astray. While in no means the only colors are black and white, but the cobblestone streets are only brought to color when speaking of symbolism, in an otherwise opaque color schme of a movie that just might be considered a greek tragedy. Sweeney Todd is a flawless film, having beatifully exicuted acting and song in one swift swoop, becoming a favorite film of mine, and one that should be held in the same high regards as the penny dreadful novel, and Broadway Musical. The only hinge holding it back was a personal nick of mine. Having grown-up on the Harry Potter books and movies, seeing Rickmen play as the potions master Snape, now still in character, and now as a singing judge(even though it was beatiful attempt) just felt corny. 4.5/5 Rating:  - What a waste of time and moneyThe original 1936 black and white making of this film certainly left something for your imagination and leaves Tim Burton's film in the dust. I'm surprised Johnny Depp fell for the discusting and poor taste of the film's direction and it's too bad Mr. Burton doesn't have the film making skills to leave something for your imagination as the original version. Hitchcock would have directed this movie in a way that would have you leaving the theatre feeling better than then when you arrived, not feeling like you need to take an antacid tablet. Instead Tim goes for the easy. It's amazing how actor's/director's taste have gone downhill. He ruined this film with his Hollywood slasher theme and was a waste of money to see. Rating: - Blood and gore and upbeat songsJohnny Depp certainly got himself another hit on his hands with this one, much to the delight of his considerable fan club and every other Broadway baby out there. While I don't know if Johnny Depp is the world's greatest singer (he won't be doing opera anytime soon) he proves that he can carry a tune well enough to make this a musical worth seeing, and fans of prior versions of the show should be pleased. Helena Bonham Carter keeps up her pace as his consort with that flair of hers we all know and love. But it ain't just Mr. Depp and Ms. Carter. Even without him and his gifts "Sweeny Todd" is art, a sensitive version of the old legend of the killer that speaks of his personal tragedy even as it recognizes his darker and, dare I say, it comedy. Simply put, "Sweeny Todd" is a great story in every sense of the word. It has it all: comedy, tragedy, romance, cannibalism. What more do you need? Visually it is a gem, from the river of blood that opens it to the scenes that vary between the streets of London and the cramped spaces of the homes and pie shops. It does not sweep broadly, but pulls you into claustrophobic conditions that force you to examine the characters. Every one of them is real. Every one of them, good or evil, earns your appreciation in a character-driven story that refuses to be two-dimensional. This is not about a barber that kills people. This is about what people will do when they are desperate in their passions of love and hate. We see goodness, innocence, love. We see revenge, evil, pain. We see everything in between, serious and funny alike. The songs are incredible and do their part to move the story along in their lyrics of passion and black humor. Isn't it great that musicals are back in vogue? Rating:  - Gorgeous - but disappointing storytellingThe desaturated Gothic graphics are stunning. Which they should be, since Tim Burton's been honing his ability to portray them for fifteen years. Perhaps he should try sepia tones instead of desaturation for his next film. The performances were good - but there were two tragic flaws that kept this from being a good film. The first was the plotting. Although this is supposedly a story about Mr. Todd, his character is stagnant, an iconic force of revenge. All of his change has already taken place offstage. The most change he goes from is "Kill a few select people" to "kill everyone" - and that change happens in a most contrived and unsatisfying way. Helena Bonham Carter's character, however, does change - but her storyline, her conflicts are glossed over to provide more time for the supposedly "main" storyline. This would have been a much better story had it been told from her character's viewpoint, centering on her conflicts and internal struggles on what - and whom - to serve. The second flaw is, unfortunately, the main trope of the story. The songs. With only two exceptions - both duets involving Helena Bonham Carter's character - the songs do little to advance the story or show character. They are set pieces that simply exist for thier own sake. This would be forgivable if they were memorable - but they're not. Every line - sung or not - must advance the plot or show character. Too many lines - both sung and not - are instead included simply to exist, and it shows. In short, this film adaptation of the musical would have been a hundredfold better had it shed the music and used that time to instead explore the characters within it. Would it still be an adaptation of the musical? Perhaps not, but it would have been a lot better story. Rating:  - Love The Movie But The DVD ....I'm a huge Johnny Depp fan & I had to replace my old copy of Sweeney Todd. So I purchased a new copy. In the description it said DVD was brand new & when I recieved the DVD it was in wrap but the DVD it self had scratches. When I played the DVD it skipped about three times. Thank God I have a DVD scratch cleaner if not I would have sent it back. Shipping was very fast also.
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