The Best Comedy/Horror/Musical of the Year!

Rating: 9/10 (22 December 2007)

Tim Burton's version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is definitely for those with an acquired taste. But for those who've acquired it, it's delicious.
To sum it up without spoiling, while the first few minutes of the film are slightly foreboding towards its success, it recovers splendidly and maintains captivation of the senses throughout until the slightly hodgepodge ending. But to maintain that captivation while spinning a yarn about brutally unmotivated murder and mass cannibalism in musical form is a triumph in itself.
To begin, the cast is perfectly diversified. This is a very character-driven show, and the faces of the characters seem to be made specifically for the parts they play. Helena Bonham-Carter's Mrs. Lovett and Timothy Spall's Beadle are specific examples of how just by looking the part they make the audience love and hate them, respectively, just with their presence.
The acting is magnificent. Nothing is held back here. Gestures and lines are delivered beautifully, and the actors really seem to understand how certain idiosyncrasies play a vital part in portraying the comedy and tragedy of the script. Ed Sanders as Toby is a completely wonderful surprise in this context.
The costuming, make-up, and sets are superb. For the most part, the entire gloomy mood of the film and the inescapable essence of it are truly expressed through forms of skewed harlequin versions of black, white, and colorful leather-inspired outfits and settings, and pale, precise make-up to go along with it. This macabre tendency of Burton's is the main reason why hordes of silly, prototypical non-conformist adolescents will stream to the theatre in the first place, but it works here, and the audience will love it if they've been fond of other Burton productions. There is one particular scene which strays from this palette, but it creates the desired effect of contrasting happiness and hope for a future with the tragedy of the film.
Also, the special effects are gripping. It truly is hard to believe, even with the slightly unbelievable glossy-red tint to all that blood and gore, that Mr. Depp really isn't slitting the throats of his customers. Perfectly horrifying, and beautifully rendered.
The music, however, creates a slight problem for the film in the sense that there isn't enough of it, as many of the original songs of the Sondheim musical have been edited and cut for the sake of time or content. While most of the actors command adequate mastery over the notes, some songs leave a lot to be desired by the audience, and most of the lyrics are regrettably forgettable throughout.
As previously mentioned, this film is not for everyone. Musicals of this nature in this day and age rarely are. But for those with a taste for the theatrical and are in the mood for something different, it is definitely a piece that is to be respected for both its qualities of escapism and literary depth, despite the certain liberties taken from the original stage script. Where the film succeeds it succeeds triumphantly and it viciously and risibly grips the audience into attention and emotion on multiple occasions. All in all, 9/10 stars.