Burton aims and misses again

Rating: 6/10 (10 December 2008)

Tim Burton perplexes me. I should like him. He's dark and quirky with a childlike view of the world. But somethings usually missing with his films, an intangible thing that's hard to nail down. Sweeney Todd should have made me feel something, I should have cared. Stephen Sondheim's brilliant modern opera is heart wrenching, a Greek tragedy set in bleakest Victorian London. The characters are broad, yes, but still we should understand the nuances and subtleties. Burton's version doesn't allow us to do this. It doesn't let us in. The view is beautiful, filmed in a kind of dream reality where nothing looks quite right. The colors and CGI environment pulse with life, more compelling than the action itself. There is much music and singing, some very beautiful, but it never reaches any heights. Johnny Depp plays Sweeney and I'm always glad to see him. But, in this Burton makes him a cartoon of the character, sweeping a huge shock of white through his hair and directing him in a ridiculously subdued way. Bejamin Barker/Sweeney should grimace at Heaven, curse God with gusto, hate the world like no man ever has. Depp does none of these things. Helena Bonham Carter plays Mrs. Lovett, a role originally written especially for Angela Lansbury, a role that requires equal passion, desperation...and pipes. These are both great actors who are miscast. Depp and Carter are too young, too pretty, too surface. Alan Rickman, way past stereotyping himself as a meanie, channels Potter's Snape throughout the film. Many character actors could have eaten this role up and it's a shame someone else wasn't given a chance. There are no bad performances here, just misplaced ones, too familiar to be unique. This is a gory story, but I grew annoyed at the tedious graphic view of...what happened to many of the victims. Not to have any spoilers, I will just say I didn't have to see it over, and over, and over. I got it with the first one. Blood is almost a character itself in this. Gushing, spurting, flowing in as many ways as it can, Buton goes too far with the Grand Guignol distracting us from the drama we should be immersed in. I love horror movies, but this should not be SUCH a horror movie. Ultimately I was as disappointed in this as I was in the way too over the top Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and excuse for toy merchandising, Planet of the Apes (which only made me love the original more). It's highly watchable, entertaining and worth seeing, just not what it could have been.