Visually stunning, shame about the singing.

Rating: 5/10 (15 March 2008)

I know a little about "Sweeny Todd", but I haven't seen any other films/TV Shows or read any books based on the legend, which makes this my first experience with it; and I'm highly disappointed. The disappointment grows further because this story and Tim Burton's directorial style are clearly a match made in heaven - but for some reason, a terrible decision was made on how the film would work and it's spoilt something that could have been great. I would write a song about this film's main problem - but I'd prefer to clearly state that it's the musical elements that spoil it. The plot is rich with horrific elements and should be a great base for a gory Gothic horror film. We focus on Benjamin Barker; better known as Sweeny Todd, a barber returning to London for revenge against all those that have wronged him. Upon his return to the capital, he meets Mrs. Lovett, the owner of a pie shop where "The Worst Pies in London" are made. If I made the worst pies in London, I'd keep my mouth shut about it - but she sings songs instead and unsurprisingly her shop isn't doing very well. Anyway, Sweeny Todd opens up a barbers shop upstairs and his lust for killing soon combines with her need for meat to put in pies.
I have to say that the film looks great. Tim Burton has his own directorial style and it translates to the screen very well here and aesthetically, every scene is a joy to behold. The good points continue with the cast; Johnny Depp is always a pleasure to watch and he clearly relishes this role, while Mrs Tim Burton; Helena Bonham Carter, does well starring opposite and the director has also done a good job recruiting some good British talent to fill the supporting roles. The film is also rather graphic and Burton provides the viewers with some real nasty sights including a spate of throat slashing that result in blood spraying everywhere, a succession of corpses falling through a trapdoor and hitting the ground with a brutal thud as well as a machine that grinds Sweeny Todd's victims into pie meat. This is all well and good but it all comes down to the execution, and the musical elements really spoil it. Many reviewers have said that the horror and musical elements bode well in this film; but for me it really doesn't work. It comes off as being almost cringe-worthy in places and constantly forced me to ask myself WHY they made this a musical (I know there was a musical version of this story, but there's also several none musical versions). Another problem with the music is that it all sounds very similar and the songs are not very diverse. The first hour or so is really rather boring anyway and the constant singing soon starts to grate. Things improve massively towards the end and despite a couple of songs; the final half hour is really quite good. Overall, I love the atmosphere and the gore of this film - but I can't get on with the musical elements at all, which unfortunately means that a film which could have been a masterpiece is sadly not much better than passable. A shame.