I am the furthest thing from a good film critic, so please be patient with me, lol. My dad is visiting from FL and we went to go see the movie this afternoon. He is not exactly a theater lover, but he has always had a thing for this show. I have vague memories watching the VHS of the OBC when I was very young. He was also able to see the memorable Paper Mill production MANY years ago. So it was cool to be able to share this experience this with him, since I will shamefully admit I did not have THAT much knowledge about the show.
Well, at the end of the movie my father looked at me and said "That was amazing. I can't believe how much I actually enjoyed that!". And from a novice perspective, I immensely enjoyed it too. I read a lot of this thread already so I had a pretty good back log of knowledge and I agree with a lot that has already been said. HBC didn't bug me but didn't wow me either. She got better as she started to crack, and the scenes with Toby were heartbreaking, but I couldn't understand a damn word of "Worst Pies in London". Depp was menacing and creepy yet you felt for him and wanted him to get his revenge! The soulless stare in his dark eyes sort of "stunned" you in a way. The lack of further explanation of the Anthony/Johanna thing did bug me. But that is the type of thing that would bug me even if I didn't have some inkling that there was more in the original material. I hate things that just seem randomly thrown in there. I do not like horror or bloody films at all, but this didn't really bother me because I didn't see it being excessive. You are slitting someone's throat, it is going to spurt and come out in quantities. But then again I've seen blood spurting out of real humans a time or two, so I may be a bit numb to it.
Overall, I am a newly converted Sweeniac (is that the correct term?). I am going to bump up the OBC DVD on my netflix list and hopefully catch this again while it is in the theaters!
BroadwayBoobs: I'll give all of you who weren't there a hint of who took the pictures ...it rhymes with shameless
SOMMS: I knew it was Tink!
gave me a gift certificate to the movie theatre where Sweeney is playing. I've only used it once - for this film. I may end up using it all on this film! 
