"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention pu-lease"

Rating: 9/10 (15 February 2008)

I had been looking forward to seeing this movie for such a long time! Since it won't come out in Germany until February 12th I had to wait even longer than the American audience. Well, I finally got to see it and here is my review.
First off, I think on its own terms the movie is extraordinary! Truly one of the greatest movies of the past year. When it started I was at first put off by the picture of the Tower Bridge (which did not exist an the time in which the movie is set) but I quickly got over it and just followed along.
The whole look of the movie is incredible. The costumes, the production design, the wigs, everything fits together perfectly. This is probably, along with "Batman Returns", the one where Burton captured his German-Exypressionism-Look best. Everything is just a little bit twisted and shabby yet somehow beyond all the filth there is something glorious about it.
The actors are just as great. Helena Bonham-Carter makes for a very funny Mrs. Lovett, even though she decided to play it down a little bit from the usual hysterical stage version and make her a human rather than a complete maniac. Depp seems to be channeling Heath Ledger's "Brokeback Mountain"-performance judging by the way he constantly clenches his teeth together. Because of this decision his singing often sounds like he is hissing the sounds through his teeth, but it fits just well with his performance. I like the decision to make the main characters not too exaggerated as they often are on stage. It might fit there, but here this portrayal seems so much more realistic and adds to the effect of the movie. Of the entire -wonderful- cast, there are only two characters who are completely overplayed: Timothy Spall's Beadle and Sasha Baron Cohen's Pirelli. But this as well adds to the movie and helps making these people characters you just love to hate, in the case of the Beadle perhaps even more than the Jugde.
The gore-level is very high and the throat slitting seems to be the most real thing in the entire movie. This is a very courageous decision as it makes you squirm even though you are entertained. Whereas the stage-version is often darkly comical the movie is rather macabre and the viewer can feel how painful death can be (and still can't wait for the next death). This makes the movie very bitter-sweet and makes it stay with you a lot longer. I was actually surprised that Burton did not go all the way and decided not to show Toby's fate as it would have made the ending even more heartbreaking. But that would have been just the icing on the cake.
And now the one thing that makes me take off one star of the movie: It really sounds like I am one of these elitists if I compare it to the stage version and I really don't mean to. In fact, if you don't know the stage version you will not miss anything at all. But since I have seen it I have to compare it automatically. Make no mistake, everything that's here is great, no complains. I just sometimes wished that some of the abbreviated songs had been intact in the movie. I know why Burton cut them and I understand his decision but since I think the choires are so integral to the musical I would have preferred it if he had kept them in a few songs, most notably "God that's good" and "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir". Sometimes it simply felt like the songs were just hinted at instead of really performed. And for "A little Priest" I would have preferred had Depp and Bonham-Carter made it just a little bit more lively. There is no need to make it the wild number it is on stage, but it is a sweeping waltz after all.. A little more than just staring out of the window would have been nice.
But enough of that. I can only advise everyone, even non-lovers of musicals, to see this movie. You probably won't be disappointed - as long as you don't mind the blood.