Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (2007)

Wow, so I know I don't do many reviews of movies that are still in theaters at the time of writing, but Sweeney Todd moved me enough to write one, so here it is.

This adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical, directed by Tim Burton, follows a once happy barber named Sweeney Todd (played by Johnny Depp) as he returns to London after being sent to a prison colony by the corrupt Judge Turpin (played by Alan Rickman). Judge Turpin wanted Sweeney's wife, Lucy (played by Laura Michelle Kelly), so he sent Sweeney, then known as Benjamin Barker, away to prison and made the moves on Lucy. This, apparently, drove her insane, and , as Mrs. Lovett (played by Helena Bohnam Carter), the lady who sells "the worst pies in London" out of Sweeney's old building, tells it, she kills herself, and Turpin adopts Sweeney's and Lucy's daughter Johanna (played by Jayne Wisener) as his own and locks her in her room away from the world. So, after being sent to prison for years for nothing, Sweeney comes back to London, along with a sailor he meets on the boat named Anthony Hope (played by Jamie Campbell Bower).

Sweeney goes back to his old home and hears the story of what happened from down-on-her-luck piemaker Mrs. Lovett, and he wants revenge. Meanwhile, Anthony is wandering London and happens across the lovely Johanna, as she sits at her window and crochets. He is immediately smitten, and devises a way to break her free from Judge Turpin's home. Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett, in an effort to drum up business for his newly reopened barbershop and draw Judge Turpin to him so he can exact his revenge, see a public display by renowned barber Signor Adolfo Pirelli (played by Sacha Baron Cohen), and Sweeney challenges him to a shave-off. Sweeney wins and Pirelli is labeled a fraud. Not one to take that lying down, Pirelli goes to Sweeney's shop, where it is revealed that he is not really Italian, and once worked as a broom boy for Sweeney, and demands a percentage of his profits to keep quiet. Sweeney's rage boils over and he kills Pirelli. Also on this day, the Judge calls on Sweeney for a shave, and right when Sweeney has the Judge's throat in his razor's sights, in burst Anthony, who reveals his finding of Johanna and beseeches Sweeney for help in kidnapping her. Turpin is enraged, vows to never see Sweeney again and decides to lock Johanna away in Fogg's Asylum, where Anthony can't get her.

Mrs. Lovett, never one to miss an opportunity, decides that she shall use Pirelli's remains as filling for her pies, and, with Sweeney's newfound rage at the world, she will be supplied with many more bodies for her pies. Her business booms with "the best pies in London," and Mrs. Lovett, in her attempt to build a little family with Sweeney (without any input from him, really), also decides to take in Pirelli's young, abused charge, Toby (played by Ed Sanders). The second half of the movies deals with the resolutions to all of these threads, but I don't like ruining endings for people, so I won't.

In typical Tim Burton fashion, the movie has such a strong look and feel about it that he sticks to in every frame. It is gorgeous to look at because of this. A strict palette of blacks, greys, whites, and little else, which captures the dingyness well. I actually hope it gets a costume design Oscar nod. We'll see. The beginning credits, however, were a little jilted, as there was far too much CGI used. There's also a part where Mrs. Lovett has a fantasy about life with her, Sweeney, and Toby, which is such a stark contrast to the look of the rest of the movie: lots of color, almost cartoon-y, which pops so well. Trademark Tim Burton, and he knows how to play his strengths.

As to the singing, and there's a lot, as it's a Sondheim musical and they kept most of the music, I have to say I would have rather heard other voices that Depp and Bohnam Carter. Great actors, especially for their roles, but weak singers. There were minimal moments where their voices stood out. For me, the best singers in the film were Jamie Campbell Bower and Ed Sanders. They put a little "oomf" behind the lyrics, and totally blew away Depp and Bohnam Carter. Sacha Baron Cohen wasn't that bad either, I might offer.

There were a few, but not many, omissions from the stage version. The ones I noticed were understandable. There's an opening number to Sweeney Todd that was cut. Instead the used just the music, which I can understand. The stage version basically tells the story to you, much like the Chorus in Romeo & Juliet. Rather than telegraph the tale, they left it as a surprise to the audience who doesn't know. Everything else was just superficial, so fair play to adapter Christopher Bond.

It was nice to hear the audience getting most of it. This must be a big worry for Hollywood doing adaptations of musicals. But the crowd I saw the movie with was laughing right along with the film when Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett are singing about what people they might fill the pies with, and enjoying little flourishes, like when Pirelli whips out an Italian flag to use as his barber's cape. Although the audience did tune out some parts that dragged on, like the opening, they were drawn into it and hung out in the story for the rest of it.

Johnny Depp, while he did scowl a lot in the film, still was able to emote enough through his scowls that I empathized with him. This is a tricky thing to do, because when Russell Crowe does it, he just scowls. Nothing else. Helena Bohnam Carter is great as Mrs. Lovett. She does whatever she can for Sweeney, and, despite her actions, Bohnam Carter keeps her likable. Sacha Baron Cohen is brilliant at his turn of Adolfo Pirelli. He takes over the screen when he comes on, which is perfect for the character. Alan Rickman was a little bland in this, though. Maybe I wanted to hate him more, but he was a bit too likable, even though his character is a slimy bastard. Maybe I just wanted Rickman to make him more of a bastard. Unfortunately, Johanna is more of a plot device than anything, so not much to say there. Ed Sanders is a little dynamo, though. Great chops on him all around, so it will be interesting to see where he goes from here. And the cameo by Anthony Stewart Head (of Buffy fame) absolutely tickled my fancy.

I really like how they used bright red fake blood, instead of realistic fake blood. There's a lot of it in this movie, what with all the slit throats and all, so you don't get desensitized to it. Plus, I think that helped it keep an R rating.

There is something that gets lost whenever a film is done of a musical. At least nowadays. The theatricality gets lost, which is tragic, because that's how these things start. The stage producers know the limitations of their staging, so they create the show accordingly. Film is not supposed to be limiting, so it's almost like blowing up a picture on the computer, and it gets really pixilated. My friend chalks it up to editing, but I don't know if that is the root. It was during moments where Sweeney Todd is having this internal struggle and he decides to kill as many people as he wishes, where he imagines himself walking down the London streets and threatening men to come in for a shave, that this is glaringly apparent. I think it's just the choices in writing and directing. Is it better to have more of an intimate moment there, rather than a huge and sprawling one? This is up for debate.

So, Sweeney Todd = good holiday, family fun. Totally worth the ride, and you might even get a song or two stuck in your head. I know I had to come back home and listen to the Len Cairou/Angela Landsbury cast recording. Very fun.