Is SWEENEY TODD Burton's Best Film?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 7:33pm

I've been starting to question that lately. It's definitely one of my favorites from him and waaaaaaaay better than pretty much everything he's done since MARS ATTACKS!. It's definitely the most visually beautiful and contains the best art direction, but I'm not sure if it's the best overall film. If I were to rank my top three Burton films, they would be this, ED WOOD, and PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE....but in what order?

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 7:40pm

Updated On: 1/23/09 at 07:40 PM

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 7:49pm

NBC wasn't directed by him.

[LePetiteFromage]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 7:51pm

Updated On: 1/23/09 at 07:51 PM

[James885]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 7:55pm

No it's not his best, but it's definetely up there along with Ed Wood, Batman, and Beetlejuice IMO.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 10:10pm

Beetlejuice (HA! Third time!)
Nightmare Before Christmas
Big Fish

My top 3 favorites. Big Fish largely because of how different it was from his other works...and yet similar.

[Patronus]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 10:16pm

No. I'd personally rank Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands above it.

[Kitzarina]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 10:22pm

I agree. My ranking of Tim Burton films I've seen would go like this:

Ed Wood
Edward Scissorhands
Sweeney Todd
Big Fish
Sleepy Hollow (which I consider a guilty pleasure film)

I really need to see Beetlejuice and Corpse Bride, but that's beside the point

[RetroBoy]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 10:31pm

. . .not by a long shot.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 11:35pm

No, it isn't. Pee Wee's Big Adventure is his best film.

[justagirl2]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 11:48pm

I have to agree with Patronus...I'd place it 3rd, after Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands. There is a common factor, of course.

[shh282]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 11:56pm

It's like top 5

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 9:05am

Yes. SWEENEY TODD is Tim Burton's masterpiece. Consistently excellent from beginning to end, beautifully made, brilliantly acted, the film that should have swept the Oscars this year. For Tim Burton not to have even been nominated while those Coen twits carried home an armload of knicknacks is only further proof of how inane those awards are.

I love a lot of Burton's other films. Until SWEENEY, I'd have claimed ED WOOD as Burton's best. I'm also a fan of most of BATMAN RETURNS, and most of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and most of PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE and most of SLEEPY HOLLOW. I even like parts of MARS ATTACKS. I'll even admit to finding sections of PLANET OF THE APES (especially Paul Giamatti's brilliant performance) watchable.

But SWEENEY, for me, is the big one, the one where Burton really went for broke and showed what he was capable of, that the darkness in his films isn't just for show. I can't wait to see what he'll do next.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 9:13am

Nope. I just watched it again, while I was on my Alaskan cruise, and it's nowhere near Burton's best film. He missed the mark repeatedly in it.

I would give that honor to Edward Scissorhands. Then Ed Wood. Then Pee-Wee.

Sweeney would be down around 8 or 9 on my Burton list, actually.

[tazber]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 9:16am

I agree with besty. Sweeney is a lesser film in Burton's cannon, IMO.

My favorite is Ed Wood, followed by Edward Scissorhands.

Sweeney is above Charlie and the Chocolate Factory though. That was awful.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 9:52am

I rather liked CHARLIE until that idiotic coda outside the factory. What a load of crap that was.

I really enjoyed EDWARD SCISSORHANDS when it came out, and repeat viewings haven't really worked for me. I still like it a good deal, but find it easy to forget. Nowhere near the brilliance of ED WOOD or SWEENEY.

[best12bars]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 9:56am

"I rather liked CHARLIE until that idiotic coda outside the factory. What a load of crap that was."

Agreed. That whole "father" subplot was unnecessary, had nothing to do with the story or the original book, and was just annoying. But I liked MOST of this remake.

I still prefer the Gene Wilder version by a mile.

[robbiej]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 9:58am

I'm with Roscoe on this one.

Burton's masterpiece.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:00am

CHARLIE was a vapid disaster.

His best is still BEETLEJUICE...old-skool stop motion animation, Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones being brilliant, an off the hook Michael Keaton performance, and Alec Baldwin squinting through glasses and never sexier. Plus jaunty Harry Belafonte songs and Dick Cavett!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:05am

The only misstep for me is the ending (Lovett's cartoony death, Sweeney's release of Johanna.) The rest is glorious, imo.

Best? Perhaps...I'd tie it with Ed Wood.
I love ES, PWBA and BJ lots, tho.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:35am

funny, Sweeny is the only musical in recent history that I refuse to purchase.
While I loved the film, it was far more bloody than it had to be, and frankly for me it was a second-rate slasher film, and it didn't have to be.....ranked right up there with Freddy Krueger in that way.

No, most definately it would be at the bottom of his list, for me anyway

Updated On: 5/23/08 at 10:35 AM

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:37am

Yes.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:46am

I read somewhere that the blood in the American release was toned down. The British and other foreign releases of SWEENEY were bloodier.

I thought the blood was the point. It is supposed to be bloody and messy and painful. What did you expect? These are throats being slashed open, after all.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:47am

I don't think Burton's topped Edward Scissorhands or Ed Wood quite yet. I liked Sweeney, but it wasn't without its disappointments. The lack of chorus, the unnecessary CGI work, the cutting of Kiss Me (which weakened the Johanna/Antony relationship) and the downplayed performance of Worst Pies in London all helped pull this picture down from reaching its potential masterpiece status. It was very good, but it could have been much better.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 5/23/08 at 10:50am

I like EDWARD SCISSORHANDS quite a bit and think it's a funny movie, but, in my opinion, it has such a lame ending. It feels like it either goes on autopilot or the studio forced that ending upon Burton.