Movie Review: Sweeney Todd

Hey there! I know it's been a while since I posted anything; the holidays were so crazy and now I'm getting ready for the upcoming wedding, and that's pretty busy too. So I'm a little behind about posting this movie review, but better late than never, right?

For those of you not familiar with Sweeney Todd, it's a musical, based on a play, so there's a lot of singing. That said, this isn't a typical musical with petticoats and love stories and the like. I call it a musical for horror movie fans. And fans of Helena Bonham Carter's cleavage. But more on that in a second.

Here's the basic plot of the film: barber Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) is happily married with an infant daughter when a randy judge (Alan Rickman) decides he wants the wife for himself. He has Barker arrested on some trumped-up charge, and Barker is sent up the proverbial river for 15 years. When he comes back, he decides to go by Sweeney Todd. He's hellbent on revenge, even more so when he learns his wife poisoned herself, and his bosomy daughter Johanna is now the ward of said Judge Turpin. He's just a shade cracked, is Sweeney, and he retrieves his old barber knives (oddly enough, although silver, they have not tarnished a bit) and takes up residence above the bakery of Mrs. Lovett (Carter). Then he learns Judge Turpin - no stranger to 'crazy' himself - wants to marry Johanna. From there, things get bloody. Let's just say when Mrs. Lovett cooks up a meat pie, you might want to check for rings, toenails and other unsavory items before you consume.

To say this movie is bloody is the understatement of the year. You might want to skip eating anything during this film, and definitely don't bring in cherry Kool-Aid. Sweeney Todd, exacting his manic revenge on strangers, slits so many throats with his barber's knives that the movie is essentially three colors - black, white, and very very red. This is not a movie for those with weak stomachs. I spent a lot of the bloodiest scenes covering my eyes. Then again, it's Tim Burton. You couldn't expect anything else from him. Even watching Mrs. Lovett make a pie in the early part of the film is enough to make your stomach turn. It even disgusts Sweeney in one of the funniest sequences. (The by-the-sea scenario Mrs. Lovett cooks up is absolutely hilarious.)

Depp and Carter play off each other most of the movie, and they have good chemistry; his singing voice is that of a rock star, not a Broadway show, and her singing voice is thin but she can carry a tune. Rickman doesn't sing as well as I'd expected, but he's passable, and he and Depp sound pretty good together. Jayne Wisener, who plays Johanna, and Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Anthony, Todd's friend and Johanna's wooer, both sing very well. I don't know if either has a past in theater but I would assume so. (Bower though is so utterly pretty that I expect he's got a brand spanking new legion of teenage girl fans.)

Depp is as usual intense, but because Todd is generally a miserable man, wrapped up in his grief and anger, the role doesn't give Depp much chance to shine beyond those particular emotions. Carter certainly looks the part for this film - her cleavage alone deserves its own screen credit. And with her large eyes darkened with shadows and paints, she looks sickly and as though someone took a perfectly beautiful doll and then went all Marilyn Manson on it - still attractive but very very creepy. (Not that I'm saying Manson is attractive. You get what I'm saying.)

Ed Sanders plays the part of Toby, a young lad who has a substantial part in the film, but I won't tell you more for fear of spoilers. But he's got a nice singing voice, and I expect we'll see him again. Watch for an unctuous cameo from Peter Pettigrew himself, Timothy Spall, and Sacha Baron Cohen as well.

Animals: It's never good to be a cockroach. Or a man in need of a shave. I don't recall any animal abuse but people get enough horror-show treatment on their own.

Overall: I had to sit down and think about it, but this movie really creeped me out more than anything. It's well put together, the casting is good, the singing is credible, etc, but it's just not my thing. I've got other Depp movies I'd rather watch again. Two and a half roses out of five.