Daylight Shaving Time

Rating: 7/10 (26 January 2008)

It's going to take a brave person to kick against the waves of euphoria with which this has been greeted. I have no problem with sacred cows as a rule but in this case I didn't DISlike it enough to subject it to a hatchet job. I'm definitely not a fan of Burton's Gothic landscape and I can take or leave Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter but on this occasion all three combined to come up with something half decent. It's still a tad pat and unrealistic in the way it relies on coincidence to keep it flowing and although I've never actually witnessed a throat being cut I very much doubt if blood behaves in the way Burton portrays it here. The photography contrives to appear black and white which begs the question why bother to use colour stock in the first place, Sondheim's score has been curtailed but what remains is reasonably well performed but one is always aware that these are primarily actors who are singing rather than singing actors. It's going to be a smash anyway so good luck to it.