Fascinating but definitely the sort of musical that is an acquired taste...

Rating: 6/10 (11 April 2008)

Tim Burton gives us the dark side of Old London with cinematography that might just as well have used glorious B&W rather than drab color. Perhaps only the blood (of which there's plenty) could have been filmed in vivid tones of red and the rest in B&W, since this basically falls into the horror film category--with music.
Some of Stephen Sondheim's lyrics are enormously clever and at the same time simple, except for certain songs sung by HELENA BONHAM CARTER as Mrs. Lovett, the infamous woman with a bakery shop on Fleet Street. She has some of the most difficult material to handle and she does it extremely well. JOHNNY DEPP manages to sing the part of Sweeney Todd without actually being a professional singer--so he's effective enough but one can sense how much more powerful this would have been with a real singer. Performance wise, he's fine.
SACHA BARON CONEN is a surprise as Pirelli, demonstrating a good voice and an Italian manner that makes him sound like Stromboli from Disney's "Pinocchio". ALAN RICKMAN is as slick as ever as a cruel villain who gets his comeuppance from the devilish pair of Mrs. Lovett and Mr. Todd, as do most of the other members of the large cast.
ED SANDERS as Toby has a nice boy soprano voice and does an excellent job of emoting, and JAYNE WISENER has a lyrical voice that suits the song she sings while gazing out the window at the film's start. All of the orchestrations sound strong and full-bodied but I can't say that any of the songs are the kind that stayed with me on a first viewing. Perhaps after a few more looks at the film, some of them will begin to stick.
It's definitely worth watching for any fan of musicals, although you have to be prepared to expect all the blood letting--even if the gushes look a bit fake. Burton loves to depict horror with a wicked gleam in his eyes, or so it seems, and he runs the full gamut of horror right up until the final scene that has a rather shocking conclusion.
Haven't seen the play but have heard Angela Lansbury do some of the songs from the Broadway show. The film's biggest drawback is the fact that all of the photography is deliberately dark and moody, with rarely a glimpse of sunshine, and after awhile this becomes a strain on the eyes. We get the dark nature of the story from the beginning, no need to hammer the point home with an Old London atmosphere that is drearier than anything Dickens could have imagined.
Summing up: Sondheim's score doesn't rank with his best, nor is this Tim Burton's best film--but it's well worth a watch thanks to the very energetic work of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in difficult, very demanding roles.