Review from a 1979 Cast Sweeney Todd Fan: it's worth seeing.

Rating: 8/10 (26 December 2007)

Okay - my husband and I went to see Sweeney Todd with a friend of ours on Christmas Day (he's going through a bad divorce and wanted to do something "anti-Christmas" - I assured him this was it).
I have been listening to the original cast recording for 25+ years, and have seen the video of the George Hearn/Lansbury stage production more than once. To say I came into the movie with some apprehension is an understatement.
My husband and our friend had barely heard of the Sweeney Todd story, let alone the Sondheim Musical. I considered it to be an experiment of sorts - to see who would like it better: the Sweeney Todd devotee or the novices.
Result - we all enjoyed it immensely, though with different eyes.
Both the novices enjoyed the movie immensely, and our friend even noted that it made you want to see the show on stage - and he isn't even a big musical theater fan.
But here's the breakdown from a devotee:
This piece is Sondheim's masterpiece, and the care with which Burton approached it is manifest. The orchestration of the music itself is lush and lovely. No punches were pulled with the dissonant score, with the exception that the factory whistle appears to be absent (or if it was there, it simply wasn't as noticeable - gouts of blood seemed to replace it).
The cinematography, costumes and sets are beautiful. As noted in many reviews, vibrant color has been drained from the film, except for the blood, which pops in huge gouts and waterfalls. (This IS in contrast to the stage show, where stage craft limits that kind of exorbitant display.) London is appropriately grimy and seamy, the "By the Sea" has vibrant dream color which makes it stand out as fantasy.
As for the singing. These are not Broadway voices (with the exception of the little boy who plays Toby - his voice is OUTSTANDING). They could not perform these pieces 8 days a week, belting to the back of a house and never missing a note. They are simply not those kind of voices.
However, adequately rehearsed and allowed several takes? Yep, they do the songs justice. I didn't feel that Johnny Depp's "Epiphany" quite pulled off savage, vengeful joy, but that's about my only complaint about his performance. The more lyrical and less difficult songs he performed quite admirably.
Helena Bonham Carter does a nice job as Mrs. Lovett - it is obviously inspired by Angela Lansbury's quasi-comic portrayal. She doesn't necessarily have strength of voice, but you can feel Mrs. Lovett's passion for Todd and craftiness without problem.
As for the other members - the young man who plays Antony is serviceable, but this young man looks like he could have been blown over by a strong wind. Antony's role is not overly taxing - you couldn't tell me they couldn't find a more masculine appearing actor that had a voice with more character.
Johanna's role is diminished. The young woman is lovely enough, but "Green Finch and Linnet Bird" sounds like it was a stretch for her. It is a difficult song, no doubt - but they should have found someone who could have sung it more effortlessly and worried less about finding a pretty unknown.
The Beggar Woman's role is also diminished, and her eventual impact at the end looks more like a parlor trick than a plot twist. I was also expecting more from Laura Michelle Kelly, to be perfectly honest.
The Judge and Beadle have diminished singing roles as well. However, Timothy Spall is a perfect, nasty, slimy Beadle, and Alan Rickman is a good Judge Turpin. And "Pretty Women" - as performed by Rickman and Depp - is admirably done, not one ounce of disappointment.
I was prepared to hate Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli, as I'm not a big fan of him. However, he was absolutely great, I can't deny it. He pulled off Pirelli beautifully.
Several numbers were shaved down a bit for time and many were removed - only us maniacs would notice, as the cuts were done judiciously.
My biggest criticism is Burton pulled out all of the "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" pieces. The Ballads help move the story along (plot-wise as well as musically), so to have them gone feels like a major loss. I'm hoping maybe something of them shows up on the DVD.
So to those who are fans of the stage show and are unsure whether or not they want to see it? I say go ahead. It is an interesting interpretation that stays pretty faithful to the original show. You won't be discarding your Original Cast soundtrack, but you won't be overly disappointed, either.