Tim Burton, How dare you!

Rating: 4/10 (29 December 2008)

I'm giving this movie a 4 out of 10 due to the cinematography, but that's about all the good I can say.
Tim Burton, you have NO business making musicals.
There have been a lot of film adaptations of musicals in the past and some have been good (i.e. Chicago) and some have been bad (Chris Columbus' Rent, thanks Rosario). It's the good ones that have set the bar for the bad ones. I will say tho, that if this wasn't a musical, I might have liked Burton's take on the this story a bit better.
Where do I start? How about the horrendous vocals. I'm so tired of Hollywood thinking anyone can sing. Most certainly not Helena Bonham Carter. None of the actors, and I mean none, would have gotten a part in the theater version of this. Some could argue that Johnny Depp can sing but I doubt he'd make it to the top ten of American Idol. I really kept comparing the vocals to the Angela Lansbury stage version of the production. Neither Depp nor Carter even compare to the original stage recording. I guess it pays to sleep with the director.
There was nothing animated about this movie and the characters were as dead as what was cooking in their meat pies. I don't know that anyone should have their name next to Director because there's no directing going on in the movie, NADA. There is hardly any movement during the songs, it's almost awkwardly weird.
I hate when directors have this "anything goes" attitude. I've always had an open mind about Tim Burton, but him dishing out this version of Sweeney Todd and expecting anyone to enjoy it is like wrapping s**t in a bag and selling it to us for $10.50. Anyone who enjoys this movie may have little to no experience with musicals.