For Depp fans

Rating: 2/10 (26 February 2008)

This film based on Stephen Sondheim's musical was inspired by music by the great Bernard Hermann has taken fifteen years to get made. Johnny Depp plays Benjamin Barker who gets arrested, wrongly convicted and deported to Australia after a Judge Turpin played by Alan Rickman decides he wants his wife and their baby. Eventually Barker returns to England as a dark and macabre character with a new name Sweeney Todd and is intent on revenge on the Judge for taking away his happy family life and business as a barber. Sweeney Todd returns to his old business and meets the shop owner Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) who tells him that his wife took poison to kill herself and that his baby daughter has grown up and is in the care of Judge Turpin who now has decided he wants the child to be his woman. Sweeny becomes a new barber and kills his customer in this insane killing spree whilst Mrs Lovett makes meat pies from the human carcases. The flows like cheap plonk and spurts here and there. Eventually Sweeney kills Mrs Lovett for lying about his wife's death and then inadvertently kills his wife but not for getting revenge on the Judge.
This contemporary slasher version of "Rocky Horror" show did deserve an Oscar for art direction as it depicts the true grit of 19th century London. Its a very simple and gory film with predictable outbreaks of forgettable musical genre songs however those females obsessed with Johnny Depp's looks will declare this a masterpiece due to their misguided and childish adulation. In fact in most cases Depp is a very ordinary but highly entertaining actor who chooses weird character roles where overacting and over animation are expected. I have enjoyed much of Burton's works immensely especially "Mar's Attacks" and forgive him for this fairly mediocre film. Both Burton and Depp can afford to make movies of this type at this stage of their careers as they know they have a captive audience. Retro Goths will also enjoy it.