The Review: Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Rating: 10/10 (7 January 2008)

A dark and very bloody film by the entertaining Tim Burton, "Sweeney Todd" not only delivers the goods story, acting, and direction/cinematography - wise, but also musically, like all good musicals should.
"Sweeney Todd" isn't for everyone by a long shot, but it does have a lot for people to like. It has dark, or what surprisingly shows up in a moment that's dark, humor that always hits it's mark. It also has dazzling Gothic sets (even though Tim Burton has abused them heavily in his films, this time it just fit too well), and a dark story reminiscent of an Edgar Allen Poe novella, with great songs that any Musical lover could enjoy on one degree or another. Surprisingly, this fits well as a great musical, even next many classics.
That's something to get to, also. There is more singing in this movie than most any other musical you'll see. with a whopping 95% of the movie sung, if you don't like musicals, chances are you'll dislike this pic, to say the least. But if you can get past that, you will thoroughly enjoy this film.
One more thing to hit on is the gore. This is an extreme amount of gore, but it is colored in a bright red so it isn't realistic, but it serves its more metaphorical purpose.
Over all, this film is musically epic, dramatically tragic, and well executed and highly recommended to anyone for at least on try, even if it doesn't look like your kind of film.
Rating: ***1/2 (out of 4)
Entertainment: ***** (out of 5)