A visual achievement but that's about it

Rating: 5/10 (21 December 2007)

All the praise in the world deserves to be given to Set Designer Francesca Lo Schiavo, he should be a shoe in at the Oscar ceremony. Really though he is the only thing worth watching in this film besides for Alan Rickman.
I have immense respect for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp but they haven't done an overly original collaboration since Ed Wood. Depp is an outstanding actor but a so-so singer at best. Burton downscales the music to the point where the numbers are very intimate and small. Tey should be much much grander after all we are adapting a very successful Broadway musical. Some of the great numbers of the play are in closed corners without much dancing or moving around.
Depp is good in the speaking role but overall I felt this is one of his weaker performances. He doesn't create a voice for this character, Depp is using his conversational voice. I love Depp because of his mastery of matching voices with characters.
Carter is easy on the eyes but not on the ears, her singing is more disappointing than Depp's. It's not horrible in fact it's a worthy effort, it's just that you know she doesn't have much experience in this field and that she only got the job because she's sleeping with Burton.
For those concerned about the gore, it looks about the same as your standard Karo syrup solution. It's actually kind of comical because I don't know if they are trying to be realistic or silly. The musical has some dark humor but you can't really tell if it's a black comedy or a tragic musical. It tries to be both ineffectively. Burton couldn't juggle these two genres.
Burton has used this dream team of Depp and Carter to the point where it has become more repetitive and annoying than Scorcesse only using DeNiro or DiCaprio. I know that these two actors weren't the most qualified to tackle these roles. I would have looked to you know someone who actually has some experience in Musical theater. Time for Burton to look back to his Rolodex of actors. Hell I'd even settle for another Keaton collaboration.
Rickman on the other hand is brilliantly cast. He creates another fascinating and unique film. His Turpin is one of the most evil characters he's ever played.
I realize I'm in the minority about this film but here's my opinion for what it's worth.