If you're familiar with the soundtrack...

Rating: 5/10 (5 January 2008)

This movie is a bizarre experience for a viewer who is familiar with the music, including the vocals. While the actors have been able to master the timing (no small thing) of the music, they simply aren't singers. Thus Mrs. Lovett sounds like a breathy 3rd grader: HBC simply hasn't the breath support to project a mature sound. It was like some freaky form of synesthesia, switching from sound to visual. I had to almost block out that in which I had always delighted: the power of the music and the verbal gymnastics. Yes, too, the script was significantly dumbed down. I can't imagine how brilliant Tim B must be to make all of these decisions. His usual fascination with gadgets and design were fascinating, and Colleen Atwood's costumes were amazing. And, in the end, the compromises in vocal talent and narrative were simply too much of an impediment for me to appreciate the movie with true abandon. Besides, the audience was really dumb---the inability to grasp 98% of the word play depressed one. (And this was in Harvard Square). One was fully aware of not being in a Broadway audience, alas. These were Tim Burton, not Sondheim, people.