Burton's surreal, dark, gloomy musical masterpiece. A piece of art

Rating: 9/10 (27 January 2008)

"I will have vengeance, I will have salvation!"
I have never been a fan of musicals and felt that a person getting up and singing in the middle of a film was stupid and tedious. However, this is an exception
Sweeney Todd is a bloody and gruesome story of a barber called Benjamin Parkerwho once lived a happy life with a beautiful wife and child. The judge then takes an interest in his wife and then wrongly convicts Parker to take his wife and daughter for himself. Parker is then sent adrift from London and returns years later seeking vengeance.
To seek revenge he starts his barber shop back up by partnering with Mrs Lovett and her pie shop in the gloomy streets of London. Todd kills the people and Lovett makes the human pies!. He hopes that the judge and his accomplice will come for a shave!
This is a very intriguing film that has awesome visuals and cinematography. Tim Burton has produced a visually fantastic film. The make-up is fantastic and retains the gritty feeling of the film fantastically. The ghostly white tint on every character's face is perfectly done.
Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter produce an exceptional partnership on screen through both of them pulling off beautiful performances.
The reason for the films 18 rating is because of the blood produced when Todd slits the peoples throats, the blood squirting is almost like the blood in kill bill in the sense that it stylised and somewhat unrealistic. It may be argued thats it inappropriate in kill bill but its very appropriate in this film because the film itself is set in an unrealistic and dramatised world of London. The extravagant blood squirting also makes the film more dramatic, especially when Todd finally kills the judge in a bloody frenzy.
The film also has glimpses of comedy. My personal favourite comical moment in the film was when the 'by the sea' song was sung by Mrs lovett , when she is reminiscing about them relaxing on the beach, there is an hilarious shot of Todd in a black and white swimsuit sitting on a towel looking emotionless and bored. A great gag about how annoying woman ranting can be!
The film features a library of very catchy and epic songs that i mostly (surprisingly) loved. My favourite song and scene of the film was when Todd sang 'Epiphany', i thought it was a very powerful representation of Todd's frustration and desire for revenge. On top of the that, the song was very catchy and the lyrics were awesome. I also loved the sequence where Todd and the judge sing 'pretty women', the whistling was eerie and slightly sadistic.
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The ending of the film in which the beggar is found to be Sweeney's wife was genius in my opinion. The final scene was very well done although, i think that the child slitting Todd's throat could have been more dramatic, but thats my only criticism. The final shot was awesome and left me blown away at the only musical i would ever love.
So why have i not given it a 10? Well although this is a film i loved, it is a musical and i cant bring myself to give a musical with a simplistic story higher than 8.5.
Don't be scared off by the fact that its a musical, I HATE musicals but enjoyed this immensely 8.5/10