more fun going there than getting there

Rating: Null/10 (25 December 2007)

The Tim Burton signature style is in place and there is a lot of wit on display though not much laughter in the audience. This is likely as good a movie as could be made of Sweeney Todd, however. I was restless during the daughter/ward's light little song at the window and eager to see the partnership formulate between Barber and Cook, a moment which feels long in coming when it arrives. I miss the a few chorus bits from the play, including the title which puts one in the mind frame of opera and also the lyrics "God that's good" although the scene and song associated with it remain. It seems they just made a choice to let individuals do the singing and eliminate any chorus. The movie is more about a kind of dark, giddy anticipation of fun nastiness until the tragedy of "idiot plot" elements is revealed, what the late Gene Siskel used to call the questions that might reasonably have been asked which would have stopped the movie in its tracks. Despite the fact that the material both celebrates rage and revenge while at the same time preaching indirectly that it is married to indiscriminate evil. . . the film is diverting. It hasn't got the sweet or underdog core of Edward Scissorhands or Sleepy Hollow, but it is fun. If you hate musicals it may not turn you and it's not as kitchy fun as Grease or Little Shop; it's in the middle, slamming the elite while selling them tickets for years and giving them a close shave.