A cut below....

Rating: 5/10 (11 February 2008)

It is fair to say that I have been waiting for a cinematic interpretation of this most brutal and glorious of musicals for the majority of my life. For nigh on thirty years I have been enthralled by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's marvelous vision and have often wondered why it had yet to be tackled in a film version, especially in recent years when the musical film has had a resurgence and renovation. It was with some excitement and also some reservation, then, when I discovered that (hooray!) a film version was in the works and (Hmmm... oh dear) that it would be directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp.
Now, don't get me wrong, I have no particular loathing for either director or actor and in the past they have produced some amazing work. However, for me Burton's star is in the descendant, having not appreciated his last three live actioners and perhaps thinking he has run out of vision. Depp is a contemporary icon; a compelling and interesting actor not afraid to mix Hollywood dash with the smaller and more thoughtful. But their pairing on this project threw too many negatives up for me before I had even seen the film that have unfortunately borne relevance now that I have.
Firstly, and vitally, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are miscast. I had my reservations over their age when they were announced and I just feel they are simply wrong for the time-line of the story. Depp looks no different in age from his 15 year incarceration except for some mad hair and a bit of pancake. "No doubt the years have changed me..." he reasons when finally confronted with the ruiner of his existence, Judge Turpin, but, no, they haven't actually.
Bonham Carter despite protesting her "limited wind" looks positively sprightly.
Alan Rickman is a good choice for the evil Judge, yet while all around him are fashioned as caricatures he looks like he is from a different film, with Vidal Sassoon fly-a-way hair and ruddy complexion. You never really get the sense that this is a depraved, nasty, vindictive man with a loose morality using the law to his own seedy, lascivious advantage.
Timothy Spall and Sacha Baron Cohen are decent in much reduced roles.
The newcomers fare better; Jamie Campbell Bower makes a fine, naive (yet somehow ambiguously sexual) Antony, and Jayne Wisener is sweet as Johanna.
Ed Sanders is too "stage school" and suffers the same as the leads by being too young. Toby is an outcast, a simpleton - the village idiot, if you will - not simply "a young boy".
In a reduced role Laura Michelle Kelly is underused.
Secondly, the direction. Tim Burton has hidden a musical in here somewhere, but you'll be hard pressed to find it. His direction and the editing leave you in no doubt that The Suits have told him to downplay it. There is no sense that Burton appreciates his source material or is even familiar with it and it becomes a film with some singing. There is no choreography between the musical pieces and the action, by which I don't mean full-out dancing (although, why not?) but at least some correlation between the score and the ensuing action. There were so may missed directorial moments, I found myself sighing audibly during potentially fantastic set pieces that never materialised. "A Little Priest" is the turning point for the whole production; the "point of no return" for the characters as Mrs Lovett devises a suitable means for disposal of Sweeney's victims. Burton shows the characters looking through their window. Thrilling! "Seems an awful waste.." she sings. I couldn't help but agree...
The singing is mediocre to say the least and most of it doesn't work. I don't care whether they can hit the notes or not, no-one is expecting Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras, but Depp and Bonham Carter fail to inject any character into their songs - their voices wet and weedy in turn. Depp goes from gruff pseudo-ominous spoken lines to singing like a novice choirboy, and Bonham Carter sounds barely interested. The transposing of Pirelli's numbers to suit Baron Cohen's lower range miss the whole point of the character completely. He's supposed to be a funny tenor. On the plus side, Jayne Wisener sings "Green Finch..." beautifully.
Also on the positive, the film looks gorgeous and 18th C London has been beautifully rendered. The condensation of the book works well and keeps the essence of the story, but it's almost as if they took too much out, whereas some judicious editing and better pacing could have fleshed the musical out more and given a sense of urgency and drama that the film as a whole sadly lacks.