Incredibly unremarkable

Rating: 1/10 (23 December 2007)

I've seen the overwhelming number of glowing reviews of this film, and what they tell me is that people who are fans of musicals, Johnny Depp or Tim Burton will gush about ANY of their efforts that actually make it to the big screen. The songs were okay, but this movie suffers from the fatal flaw commonly found in movie musicals, in that the songs are just padding for a story that would otherwise take about 12 minutes to tell. Come to think of it, that is a flaw shared almost universally by films directed by Tim Burton, who has been exposed since his early breakthrough efforts as a director who is clearly more comfortable with style than any sort of story structure. A couple of actors were brought in for a bit more singing talent, but none of the songs really required much in the way of pipes. Burton is well-suited in his typical role as a decent director (as long as the film in shot in blue-and-white) who makes bad movies. Depp again sacrifices doing watchable fare in favor of being what he apparently considers an "artist," and Bonham-Carter does the yawn-through she usually does in roles donated to her by whoever her latest fling is. And as is also typical, a cast filled with actors many of us really like gives us a pedestrian effort, apparently believing that our affection for them is enough to keep us blindly attending sub-par fare. There's really just nothing to recommend about this flick, and if it's at the top of your list of movies to see, you'd really be best-served going with your No. 2.