Brilliant Movie, but songs just not good enough, unlike Oliver Twist

Rating: 7/10 (29 January 2008)

I loved the visual aspect of this movie. I thought the casting and acting was perfect. This is truly a perfect movie but only deserves 7 out of 10 because the songs are just not good enough. If we look at all the really big musical movies, Oliver Twist, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and so on and so on, there are always one or two songs that you'd remember from those films. With Sweeney Todd, there is no memorable song at all, not even a melody to hum on your way home. There is also only one scene where the actual musical moves out of the reality of the situation; what I mean by this is that the character Sweeney Todd actually sings in the street with the street patrons not taking any notice of him, a scene of disbelief within disbelief. This is a trait which has worked in many a musical movie and which actually doesn't work here at all as it's a lone scene of this type of singing on the street. This, you'll notice, happens a lot in Oliver Twist and with 60 years between these movies, Oliver Twist is a far more superior movie than "Sweeney Todd".