The pieces don't fit together.

Rating: 3/10 (27 January 2008)

For the record, I must first state that I am very keen on Tim Burton's work, I am very much of the opinion that prior to "Sweeney Todd" he hadn't made a film any less than thoroughly entertaining and worthy of repeated viewings. Not so this time.
I have a number of problems with this movie. The most obvious flaw here being that as a musical it should have a cast capable of singing. Nope, not a one of them can hold a tune. There's also the problem that Johnny Depp has forgotten he's not doing Jack Sparrow any more, and similarly Alan Rickman is still doing Severus Snape (though to be fair, the Todd/ Sparrow similarities aren't as obvious as the Ed Wood/Willy Wonka parallels, and Alan Rickman does do "frustrated" very well) - never mind the fact that Sacha Baron Cohen has only ever done one character.
As to the pieces not fitting together, Tim Burton has made a movie that looks exactly like a Tim Burton movie, all dark and almost monochromatic (save for the blood and Sacha baron Cohen's garish attire), and bolted roughly onto that is a brass-heavy score which just doesn't fit with the visuals. Why not use a similar technique to "..Chocolate Factory" of taking existing lyrics and fitting to a more suitable (yes, OK, I admit it, Danny Elfman-written) score? Well, except that for the most part the lyrics are trite and fail to sufficiently advance the plot...
So all in all, a movie that looks fabulous (except for the grating green screen sequence. Yes, green screen to give characters different lighting effects to each other and the background worked very nicely in "..Chocolate Factory", here it sticks out like an extremely sore thumb.) but is let down by pretty much every other element. The first Tim Burton movie that I shall not be watching again.