Liked it despite Tim Burtons influence

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2008)

The source material (the original Broadway show) is so strong, that this still ranks high for me, despite Tim Burton's almost infallible ability to overpower any other influence in his films. The title really should be "Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd". Once again we are treated to a world that is ridiculously monochrome (with a few exceptions), not in an artful way, just in a monotonous way. The cartoonish way that Burton exaggerates his films is a real detriment to this one. The underlying story and themes are so so powerfully written, so well planned, but the emotional impact is almost always undermined by the fact that from the beginning we are conditioned to realize that this is all some sort of Gothic doodle from Burton's sketchbook. I don't mind a dark, dirty, vermin infested London, but in this film it was artificial and detracted from my investing in the characters. Ironic considering that the Broadway show obviously connects with the audience with much less in the way of budget, sets, etc... But all Burton's flash reminded me was that this is a director who loves to do his thing, and gets so wrapped up in his style and ideas, that he doesn't seem to step back and evaluate what effect it has on anything else.
Casting for example: The singing parts of Sweeney Todd and the Judge are both written for very deep voices (not a music major, forgive me), and their duets are just awesome when sung by those deep voices. But Tim Burton has to cast his favorite star, Johnny Depp, despite not being the type or having the voice. Nonetheless Johnny did a fine job (not great but fine), though he did play it a bit too introverted for my taste. There are some moments from the original soundtrack where for all his deep brooding, Sweeney Todd just breaks down, either shouting or crying and it's very very emotional. You are reminded that (spoiler here) this starts out as a story about a good man who has had his family taken from him. In these emotional moments, Depp's Sweeney just kind of mumbles to himself. There's almost no outward display of emotion except when he's killing someone. It would seem to suggest that for Burton (or Depp?) this story is really just about the violence. I would say Alan Rickman did the best job of the three leads, though writing wise, I would have liked them to show more of his lust for Joanna, and conversely Sweeney's real desire to get her back. Helena Bonham Carter was a far worse casting choice in my opinion. Again, she's doesn't fit the type and rather than playing Mrs. Lovett with the energy that the ultra fast lyrics suggest and require, she seems to be half falling asleep most of the time. In fact, as it's always been played, she's supposed to be the more twisted of the operation- Sweeney is out for revenge, but it's a revenge that the audience has seen the motivation for. Lovett is his accomplice, but really perpetuates most of the action. Carter throws some surprise and shock in there, which seems out of place, since it's so fleeting. Angela Lansbury played Lovett on Broadway, and any discomfort she showed was more about Sweeney's impetuousness, his impatience. She didn't have a problem with anything he did, only that she preferred to do things right and didn't want either of them caught.
Overall, my complaints come down to some creative choices made by the director and the actors, and of course who's going to agree with 100% of those? The script was very faithful to the Show, making only minor edits of songs and adding some dialog to make sure all the relevant info was there. I do wish the opening ballad was used, just cause it sets the story up so well and really has such cool lyrics.