A near masterpiece of musical film

Rating: 8/10 (28 December 2007)

Originally, I was going to give this movie a rating of 6/10, rather than 9, but a lot of things have made me reconsider. For one, the sets and visuals in this movie are downright amazing, and showed Tim Burton for the genius of cinema that he truly is.
However, I was going to give it a 6/10 for a few reasons. As an example, they removed my favorite song from the stage-play ("The Ballad of Sweeney Todd"), and the casting seems much like a 12 year old would arrange. Like Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd; he has a dark appeal to him and a sort of sinister voice when it comes to singing, but it seems that he was cast mainly because of how big of a name he is in Hollywood. Then there's the casting of Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall of the Harry Potter franchise. Showing that the both of them were cast in the same movie shows that Tim Burton wanted the same kind of feel of Professor Snape and Peter Pettigrew. Regardless of that, Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall pull off their roles much better than I had ever expected (As a matter of fact, Timothy Spall has become my favorite actor to play the role of the Beadle in the history of Sweeney Todd, and I regret he didn't have more opportunities to sing).
Helena Bonham Carter didn't quite live up to expectations, though. As a singer, she's pretty good. As an actress, she's great. But a great musical actress? No, not quite. Lovett is a character of comic relief, and you simply fall in love with her as the play progresses, but you don't in the movie. I kept feeling like I had to picture Patti LuPone in her place as the movie progressed.
This movie is extremely well-crafted, as only Tim Burton could do. The blood seems a bit cheap and added-in, but the mood of the film is dark and, yes, somewhat frightening if you let it sink in as you watch it.
All in all, despite a few casting errors and how they cut out all the comedic wonders of "A Little Priest" and "The Worst Pies in London", there's so much in this movie that compensates for it, such as how it's the darkest adaptation of Sweeney Todd I've seen in my life, musical or not.
If you're squeamish, please avoid this movie. There's gore galore.