Sweeney Todd, school newspaper review.

Rating: 6/10 (7 May 2008)

Tim Burton describes his latest musical masterpiece as "The Sound of Musicwith blood" although Mrs.Lovett is certainly no Maria. As you might have heard, or rather must have heard, it stars Johnny Depp as Sweeny Todd, a naive barber turned demonic people carver, who is hell bent on reaping revenge on Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) for stealing his wife, imprisoning his daughter Johanna and shipping him off to Australia for 15 years for no apparent reason. It sounds harsh, but it makes one great movie and it might even turn you on to musicals, but beware, it'll put you off pies for life.
Helena Bonham Carter plays Mrs. Lovett, who cooks, as she says herself (or rather sings), "the worst pies in London". That is of course, until she partners up with Todd to change her recipes to something a little meatier than 'pussy cats 'n' toast', with their delightful new creations portrayed in 'A little Priest', although they won't be winning a Michelin star any time soon. This is the song where the different occupations correlate to the different flavours of pie such as "shepherds pie peppered with actual shepherd on top." Personally I think I'll stick to beef.
Apart from anything else, we find out that she is madly in love with Sweeny, and one of the most hilarious scenes in the film is her rendition of 'By the Sea' in which we see her delve into a stylistic world of bathing suits and marriage vows, all the while oblivious to the look of utter despair on Todd's face.
I've heard about unsuspecting film-goers who for some insane reason did not realise that this was a musical. (Sorry, but how could you not know it was a musical?) Some even walked out, not able to take the singing anymore! But I ask you this. For anyone who has seen the film, do you think it would be as good without the music? There has been some speculation as to why 'The Ballad Of Sweeny Todd' was not included in the final film, and for all you Broadway fans who missed it, let me tell you that if you were such a fan you'd have noticed it integrated into 'There's no place like London', the first song which exhibits Depp's previously unheard gritty rock style singing voice that has won him such acclaim.
The film was adapted from Steven Sondheim's Broadway masterpiece, and he was on hand to make sure every song was conveyed in the right way. If you are planning to see this film and are not particularly partial to a bit of horror, then once the killing sprees start and Sweeny gets a little liberal with his 'friends' the switchblades, watch out for the barbers chair chute, which provides you with a less than lovely sound upon each delivery of 'meat' for pie time after a 20ft drop. Let's just say it's not a pretty sight.