begins when it should be ending

Rating: 5/10 (24 February 2008)

To my astonishment, I actually found myself enjoying this round about the 80-minute mark! This is when Burton finally allows the gore to splatter with some velocity, and when the cast starts to sing while moving around and doing things. Up till then every time someone utters a note everything freezes dead and it's a cue to get up for popcorn/the crapper. What a remarkably tedious score - Phantom of Fleet St., someone please slit my throat. I haven't seen any Burton for years, so I couldn't tell you if he's been losing his sense of humor and composition over time or if this book caused him to lurch suddenly into the blahs. The performances (all well within the actors' pre-defined range of shtick) can be quite enjoyable when they're not drowning under oceans of song, but the source material keeps Timbo on a consistently short leash, and on top of everything else the CGI sucks.