An excellent "adaptation", but lacks the real heart of the original

Rating: 2/10 (31 March 2008)

I went into this film with great trepidation. I know this musical like the back of my hand. So it took me a few weeks to get into the right mind-set, telling myself over and over "this is an adaptation, not the original".
And I NEEDED it. The changes that Burton has brought to the play are significant, and the performances are enthusiastic but definitely weak on the musical side.
The choice of Johnny Depp as Todd was, while interesting and at least partially understandable as one of Burton's little "fetish casting" tricks, not the wisest choice. He pulled of a good dramatic performance. With one small problem: Sweeney Todd is not a stage play, it's a musical. his voice is weak, it lacks everything essential to a good Sweeney. Not withstanding my complaint on this issue, he STILL pulled off quite a coup when one considers the fact that he is not a trained singer in the slightest.
Helena Bonham Carter had the same problem as Mr. Depp. While the role of Mrs. Lovett is not quite as demanding vocally as that of Todd, Bonham Carter's wispy voice just did not suit what musical meat there was.
The rest of the cast suffered the same fate. Voices lacking in dramatic power trying desperately to put the weight where it was needed and failing.
The one issue which I think is unforgivable, however, was Burton's insistence on removing the chorus numbers. He explains it in a logical fashion, but fails to understand that the chorus in Sweeney Todd is not just the artificial "let's make the crowd sing" that is so prevalent in musicals. That chorus is an integral PART of the story-telling, and a dramatic person.
"God That's Good!" loses all of its charm and satire when the only people singing are Lovett and Toby (here the part is played by an actual child, in my opinion, the only truly wonderful casting in the whole film).
And the opening credits music, basically the bare skeleton of "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd", just sounds like the orchestra practicing before the singers show up. Without the actual MELODIES the music means nothing! So Burton missed the boat completely on that issue.
Where he again missed the boat was with the cuts. I think that there have been enough 3-hour films that have been monstrous box-office successes that any justification he might come up with for shortening the play so dramatically (under 2 hours) are just so much hot air on Mr. Burton's part.
The over-all tone of the film is dark, which is fine, but some of the humorous lines come across as simply bad writing when they are delivered in the pasty-faced deadpan that Burton obliged his actors to use. "Worst Pies in London" is a confused mish-mash of imagery that is completely incomprehensible when delivered in this fashion. Particularly when the two leads suddenly burst into misplaced laughter.
Sweeney Todd is a masterpiece... the musical, not the film. It deserved to be treated as such. I hope in future Tim Burton stays away from the musical genre which he obviously neither appreciates nor understands.