Mr. Burton, I bow to you.

Rating: 10/10 (22 December 2007)

I first saw "Sweeney Todd" about five years ago when I rented the Angela Lansbury Broadway movie, after that I was hooked on Sweeney. So naturally when I found out that Tim Burton would be at the helm of a film version of the beloved musical I was ex tactic, now my favorite director would be directing my favorite musical. Then I found out about the cast. My favorite actors would be in the title roles. It seemed so perfect, then I remembered, this was a musical. Could they pull off the daunting signing ranges that Sondhiem so brilliantly penned? Yes, yes they could.
I saw the midnight showing and when the film started I was left completely breathless. The cinematic scope of the film was awesome in every sense of the term. Depp and Bonham Carter were a perfect match for their roles. Regardless of the fact that many people have been commenting on Carter's wispy voice and how it isn't "Lovettish" I beg to disagree. The character of Mrs. Lovett (like any other character in the history of theater and film) can be interpreted in any way. Most people were comparing Carter's interpretation of Mrs. Lovett with that of Angela Lansbury's; they are completely different people! This time Lovett is an Innocent soul, and not in the pure sense. She is innocent due to lack of education and of illiteracy, she wants so much to be a motherly figure and a lover that she is this naive woman, until of course the subject of business and monetary funds come into play.
You cannot go into this film and automatically compare it to the stage version. It is a film, plain and simple. Burton puts his signature on the film while it still remains the Sondheim classic that we know. Sondhiem wrote Sweeney's music not as enhancing songs to strengthen the plot (like most musicals do) but he wrote it to tell the plot. It is the closest thing you can get before you cross the line into the land of Opera. And the wonderful thing about this film adaptation is that Burton kept that sense about him, the music was telling the story. So everything added up with the song at hand, making the movie flow like it was an elaborate two hour waltz. The beat of the movements, the turn of the camera and the angles that it captured, the speech of the actors and the voices that came out of everyone of them was amazing. This film is amazing. So Mr. Burton, my heartfelt thanks to you. Finally I have a favorite movie.