Twisted and morbid dark-comedy musical...

Rating: 4/10 (30 March 2009)

1st watched 3/26/2009  4 out of 10(Dir-Tim Burton): Twisted and morbid dark-comedy musical about a barber, played by Johnny Depp, who's taken away from his family by an un-just judge. He changes his name and decides to have vengeance against this judge, somehow  someway! His vengeful ways get twisted about half-way thru in the movie after he opens a shop above a meat-pie baker, played by Helena Bonham Carter, and he starts taking out anyone that comes to his shop, The baker then starts profiting from his extra meat, if you know what I mean. This movie was a valiant effort by Tim Burton to try and bring to the screen this sad and demented musical. Depp is good as usual but he can't redeem the story and the character that he had to play. At first, he appears justified in his actions, but he kind of goes off the deep end. This is where the movie lost it's appeal, in my opinion. Burton probably didn't want to stray from the story but something should have been done to make us care a little more for the character. There is a side story about Todd's daughter, who is held prisoner by her step-father, played by Alan Rickman, and is adored by Todd's friend to the point of wanting to rescue her. As you can tell the real story here though is Todd's attempt to reconcile with his family but it's not really pursued very well and instead it's about him slicing as many necks as possible to benefit the baker below. Too much gruesomeness and not enough soul-searching. The songs are fine and the film looks good but again the story can't redeem the overall movie experience.