A symphony orchestrated to perfection

Rating: 9/10 (1 August 2009)

I bought this movie without knowing what to expect from it. I'm a small fan of Johnny Depp as a performer, he has done some very strong rolls before so my expectations was high. Didn't get any better by the fact that Tim Burton stands as the director.
The story is quite simple and the oldest one there is: revenge. Yet it's told through half-musical, that is there are many parts where they sing instead of reading out dialogues. This gives the movie a whole other dimension and the portrait of the "old London" is a half twisted world of lunatics. It's just a brilliant and perfect setting.
Johnny Depp does a strong performance as Sweeney Todd but there are other strong actors as well. Alan Rickman per example delivers a perfect interpretation of the Judge Turpin while Helena Bonham Carter delivers a very strong roll as Mrs Lovett.
The music however is somehow hard to follow at certain points, especially when 2 sings against each other on different songs. Needless to say however that this occasions are few and add little confusion to the story.
All in all, Sweeney Todd is one of those movies you either lover, or hate. If you're in to Tim Burton, Johnny Depp or half-musicals I recommend this. if your not into I still recommend it because it's a very good movie well balanced between humour, love and tragedy.