Film review: Time Out London, Jan 2008

http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/85001/sweeney-todd-the-demon-barber-of-fleet-street.html

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Director: Tim Burton

Synopsis

Based on the 19th century legend of Sweeney Todd and the hit Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) returns to London after being sent away by Alan Rickman’s Judge Turpin. He opens a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop were she sells ‘the worst pies in London.’ With the help of Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), Todd tries to get rid of all the people who have ever done him wrong.

Movie review
From Time Out London

A great deal bloodier than most musicals, Tim Burton’s beautifully crafted take on Stephen Sondheim’s stage show still feels like a kids’ film that no littl’uns will see, such is the sweep of his story, his caricaturing, and his balletic approach to killing.

But human behaviour isn’t Burton’s strong point, so one doesn’t expect him to gain a strong grip on the psyche of Benjamin Barker – now Mr S Todd (Johnny Depp, with a skunk’s streak in his locks) – the barber who’s back in dank Victorian London and looking for revenge on crooked Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, resuscitating his turn in ‘Perfume…’) after enduring an unjust stint in a penal colony and losing his wife and daughter. This forlorn figure is now entering a pact with local pie-maker Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter, fresh from the Queen Vic) that sees trade blossom for both – and offers Todd a busman’s outlet for his anger…

There’s something of the Hulk to this Todd (a monster with a heart and a troubled past), but there’s a heavy dose of Fred West, too. Depp is too young and too beautiful – but he claws back some romance for his anti-hero and proves a capable singer. It’s the usual Burtonisms that impress: the sets, the costumes, a masterly embrace of the sound-stage (retaining the theatricality of Sondheim’s original).

There’s a gulf between the colourful leads and the bland supporting roles, and Burton struggles to avoid a flat middle section that contrasts with the atmospherics of his opening and the melodrama of his finale – but mostly this is grand-scale studio-work at its most beguiling.

Author: Dave Calhoun


Film review summary

Calhoun thinks the film has done the Musical version of the tale justice, but has put a Burton twist that makes it a good film.

Little information is given about Bejamin Barker- the sane Todd from the past- but Burton has given depth to Sweeney's character, giving him motives for his violent murders.