Tim Burton is a frustrating director. He has made movies I’ve really liked: Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. Then he countered with his horrid Batman flicks, Mars Attacks!; Sleepy Hollow, Beetle Juice plus the Willy Wonka and The Planet of the Apes remakes. After seeing his adaption of Sondheim’s infamous musical, I’ve concluded that if Burton is forced or compelled to follow a strong narrative with a well-thought-out ending, he can make a decent film. This version of Sweeney Todd is a very abbreviated presentation of the original 1979 musical: significant chunks of songs are removed, probably for time, yet it works for most audiences (aka, the masses) aren’t patient.
Fifteen years ago, Judge Turpin (Rickman) wanted a young Mrs. Barker for himself so he had Mr. Barker (Depp) sent to prison on trumped-up charges. Out of grief, Mrs. Barker poisoned herself instead of giving into the judge’s advances and the Barkers’ only child, Johanna, became Turpin’s ward. With his sentence completed, Barker returns to London and plots his revenge. He changes his name to Todd, opens a new barber shop on Fleet Street above Mrs. Lovett’s (Carter) bakery and challenges the best barber in London to attract customers. Eventually Turpin will come in for a shave and Todd will exact his revenge. It’s a harebrained scheme that only could work in a musical. Meanwhile, Lovett and Todd form their ghoulish pact regarding the meat pies which is what this story is most remembered for. Personally, I think Sondheim’s story is about destructive obsessions (Turpin and Todd), hate (Todd) and unrequited love (Lovett) because everyone suffers a horrible fate when it’s over.
As a movie, the big surprise is Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli, the “Italian” barber Todd defeats in a contest. Cohen’s part is small but he’s very funny. Depp, Carter and Rickman are pretty competent singers yet I don’t recall any of them doing much in the past other than Depp having a band in Nineties. Burton’s obvious touch is the look for Todd and Lovett. They’re so pale and pasty looking! Depp and Carter look like living versions of The Corpse Bride characters or the managers of a Hot Topic. I would have shortened the gore element though. I know it’s part of the story but after a couple of victims, the murders and their disposals make Sweeney Todd feel more like an Eli Roth film.
Worth Seeing? Not really. I’ve enjoyed musicals and this has piqued greater interest in Sondheim’s other material for me, because all I know adequately is A Funny Thing Happened… and a Bernadette Peters album. For other people, musicals are a dying genre so this will only appeal to Goth kids and fans of gorenography.