Disappointing and even (dare I say it?) slightly boring

Rating: 3/10 (27 May 2008)

I really wanted to like this film; honestly I did. I'd looked forward to it ever since I heard Burton and Depp were involved, and I thought to myself that if *anyone* could carry off the incredibly twisted comedy, it would be Tim Burton.
Sadly, it doesn't work, nowhere near as well as it might have. Burton actually proves that he doesn't really know how to stage a musical number (JOANNA drags on and on and on and on until you want to throw something at the sailor, and LITTLE PRIEST is sung so softly and mechanically that the orchestra, by necessity, declares aural victory.). There had been talk of a chorus of ghosts, then a single ghost, singing the opening BALLAD OF SWEENEY TODD, but instead... nothing. The number that sets up the tone of the entire show is cut, for no real discernible reason.
There's also a very odd approach to BY THE SEA, which, in Burton's eyes, has to be opened up into this strange fantasy sequence. It's nice to look at, sure, but it woefully undercuts the point of the song.
On the plus side, it's, for the most part, a gorgeous film, with stunning art direction. Some of the costume designs -- like Mrs. Lovett's goth ballgown and Perelli's pants, which are laughably tight but again beg the question: why? -- don't really work, but the architecture and the interiors all carry Burton's brand of dark, desaturated colours and strange, mysterious shadows.
But all in all, a huge disappointment.