Burton and Sondheim: a match made in heaven

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2007)

Yes, this is about a barber who kills people. Yes, this is a musical.
I have been excited about this movie since last December, when I first heard about it. Having been a Burton fan since my four year old self was quoting "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" and "Nightmare Before Christmas" and a Sondheim fan since middle school, I had faith that Tim Burton was the perfect director for Sondheim's masterpiece. So you can imagine how lucky I felt to be able to see a screening of this.
This movie is all I could ever hope it would be.
I walked in the theater with my best positive outlook. I had shed my mournful tears over the cut songs (the Ballads, Kiss Me) and wanted to be as optimistic as possible, and I was not disappointed at all.
Johnny Depp's performance in this is one of his best by far. He stole every scene he was in. He has toned down Sweeney for the screen, so those used to George Hearn or Len Cariou may have to get used to, but I think the important thing to remember is that this is a movie, not a stage show.
Helena Bonham Carter gives a great performance as Mrs. Lovett. Though she is different from Angela Lansbury, her portrayal still works marvelously, and she and Johnny make a great pair.
The supporting cast is all amazing. Alan Rickman could make "High School Musical" entertaining. He is so deliciously evil in this movie, and you can tell his sidekick, Timothy Spall's Beadle Bamford, is having a great time with his sniveling character. Sacha Baron Cohen is, of course hilarious as Pirelli. The three young supporting actors (and unknowns), Jamie Campbell Bower, Ed Sanders, and Jayne Wisener, are all perfect in their roles. I hope to be seeing them in more films to come. Another unknown to Hollywood but acclaimed London stage veteran, Laura Michelle Kelly, is chillingly creepy as the beggar woman (and gives a naive sympathy as Sweeney's wife, Lucy, in the flashbacks.
Now, for the blood. There's a lot of it. A whole lot. Just a warning. However, the blood is so immense that at times it is, as Richard Roeper said, almost Python-esquire. I think audience are supposed to laugh as fountains of blood gush out of Sweeney's unlucky costumers. It is also brutal the way they land on their head on the way down to the bakehouse.
All in all, this is an amazing film even if you have never heard of Stephen Sondheim (though you really should, but that's not the point.) I can't think of a better way that theater lovers' beloved Sweeney Todd could have been brought to the screen than in Tim Burton's own unique mind, and I know that I could not be more content with this film.