Interesting but Overrated

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2007)

"Sweeney Todd"
A film directed by Tim Burton.
Johnny Depp plays lead.
The two main reasons that got me to see the movie -- and my god any crusty plot -- would make me see it again if those two conditions were applied. Johnny Depp remains to be a stunning actor that is only boosted by my hero Tim Burton. Tim Burton knows how to direct. There were a couple of angles that hindered me from fully appreciating the movie that laid out before me but I shall only show two.
1) Character Development You see hardly any development from the fellow criminal Mrs. Lovett besides the fact that she's madly in love with Mr. Todd. The development you do see mostly comes from Mr. Todd's part and it's constant repetition of how "there once was a barber and his pretty wife yada yada..." You never hear how he came to be rich, how he fell in love with his wife, or any real connection between his wife in the fist place. I felt more love between Mrs. Lovett and Mr. Todd than Mr. Todd and his wife which was the real reason of what really drove him to his insane killing sprees. There's a lot more complaining in the character development but I'll switch to another area of weakness.
2) Ending The picture was quite nice really... the way he held onto his dead cat-lady-esquire wife as his throat gushed with blood was very emotional. From the director's angle. But w-t-f. How is the audience supposed to know he **loved** his wife that much? Sure the killing of people in revenge was a symbol, but what was their life before that? I really wanted to cry at that scene. I just couldn't... I felt the tears welling on my face but they couldn't fall... they just couldn't. The director really took a gamble with the beautiful end. Burton was forced to making it so glorious and meaningful so we can forget his daughtaur. Geez what a twit. A lovable twit. Bless him, really.
All my 7 stars go to Johnny Depp's acting and Tim Burton's eerie film making.