Burton's Epiphany

Rating: 8/10 (14 October 2008)

Tim Burton has, despite his frequent insistence on his dislike for the genre, always been a director of musicals. You only need to look at the animated films of "Corpse Bride" or "The Nightmare Before Christmas" to see his unique take on show stopping numbers, and in his other films there are often moments of musical tomfoolery, such as in "Charlie And The Chocolate Factory" or "Mars Attacks!" The difference between these films and something like, say "The Sound Of Music" is pretty obvious. Burton is a dark, Gothic auteur whose own brand of black comedy and love of ghoulish storytelling is now legendary in its own right.
So "Sweeney Todd" was perfect for him. In fact there is no other living film director who comes to mind who would have been as perfect a director of the film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's perhaps most celebrated musical (though its more of a light opera than anything else - not in its subject matter, but in the amount of dialogue and songs). The actual show just oozes Burton in its horror story qualities, and you have the chance to bring more gore to the proceedings being much more up close and personal than in the theatre. Yet Buron never goes OTT with this gore, unlike some very unfortunate film franchises that are circulating today. It is INTENTIONAL gore, and though it may shock you when you first experience it (it comes in rather late into the movie) you quickly get over the surprise and begin to enjoy it in a rather unnerving way.
There are other reasons for this other than Burton's handling. Depp and Bonham Carter are brilliant in their roles. Neither are strong singers, yet they perform their songs with such intensity it would be hard to believe they have not performed this on the stage themselves. Depp has added another memorable character to his vastly growing CV of kooks, and Bonham Carter's credibility has once again shot up above the Merchant Ivory costume dramas she was first discovered in. The supporting cast work very well too, though the love story between Todd's daughter and his sailor friend does suffer from the necessity of cutting for time.
It helps that the music is extraordinary too. Though Sondheim has not been as successful in the UK as he has been in the States, its incredibly difficult to grasp just why this show was not more popular over here. The songs segue beautifully into each other , always with a dark undertone lurking somewhere, even in the lighter pieces (and there are one or two). A new production will no doubt be planned in the near future - and if not, why not?
Burton has returned back to his roots after a few films that, though brilliant, were very family orientated. This is a film for grown ups, a fable for grown ups, and Burton does very well indeed with these fables.
8/10