I haven't read any of this thread, so I apologize for anything I say that's been said, but here is my review of the film. And I am so sorry for the length...I'm just really passionate about it.
As some of you know SWEENEY TODD has long been my all-time favorite musical. Many people I know do not like it (some who haven’t even seen it) because they don't understand how someone could like a story "like that." To be honest, I think that view of the musical shows, in many ways, the person’s inability to understand what the musical says. Yes, it is a horror musical, and that is part of its goal. But it is also a scorching examination of the darkest side of human nature. And it is an examination that is utterly fascinating.
While any good production of SWEENEY certainly has an indescribable power, there have been three "definitive" productions of SWEENEY that approach the material in different ways. Of the three (Hal Prince's original, John Doyle's revival, Tim Burton's film), I have to say, after thinking about it thoroughly, that I think Burton's achieves the most power out of the three. And thus, it is my favorite.
I know, I know, it is unfair to compare stage to screen. Prince's original production, big and melodramatic, employed a Brechtian approach to the material, something that cannot be achieved through the medium of film. Prince used the show to critically examine the effects of the Industrialization of Western society. On the other hand, Doyle took an extremely psycho-analytical view of the material, and it was endlessly fascinating.
But Burton achieves something completely different. He sees SWEENEY TODD as what it is at its most basic core: the horrifying story of a man gone mad. Sweeney is a sympathetic character at first, yes, but he quickly becomes a monster. He becomes the embodiment of the very worst parts of human nature. And Mrs. Lovett, driven to the brink of madness herself not in a thirst for revenge but an unrequited obsession, adds a horrifying companion to Sweeney's personification of all that is evil within us.
What Burton does that stage productions didn't (perhaps even couldn't) do, is bring the audience into the emotions and lives of these two horrifying yet infinitely interesting characters in an intensely personal way. So personal, so close, that the horror is inescapable.
Burton has always been a visual filmmaker. Stunning visuals, beautiful production design, breathtaking scenery, I think everyone knew, once his name was cemented, that all of these would be present in his film of SWEENEY. And he does not disappoint. Everything about SWEENEY’s visuals and production is perfect, breathtaking and appropriately dark. But storytelling has never been Burton’s strongest suit. This film is where he comes into his own as not just a visual wizard, but as a real filmmaker. Finally, he has learned to fuse his gifts with strong storytelling to produce the finest, most assured film of his career.
On top of the expert filmmaking, Burton secured a cast that I feel, after intense hesitance before seeing the film, I feel can hardly be bettered. Depp delivers the most haunting Sweeney ever. This is not the melodramatic and loud Sweeney of the Prince production or the beautiful-voiced, brooding Sweeney of the Doyle production. Both of those Sweeney’s worked beautifully in their respective productions, but in the world of Burton’s film would have been completely out-of-place. Depp’s Sweeney is real, vengeful, horrifying and unpredictable. But the most important word in there is real.
Helena Bonham Carter’s Mrs. Lovett I’m sure has people divided. It is such a departure from what people familiar with Sweeney are used to. She is quieter, perhaps more unsure about what she is doing. The only thing she is sure about is her desire to have Sweeney all for herself. It is this obsession that is her downfall, in every way. She is evil, but hers, like Sweeney’s, is an evil that is so very hard to understand because it comes from a virtuous emotion deep within that has manifested itself, through her actions, as some of the cruelest acts imaginable.
I’m sure many people are having qualms with the voices of both the leads. And let me first say, no, neither Depp nor Carter could have careers as singers. But they are actors. And they bite into Sondheim’s lyrics with such emotion. Their voices fit the characters perfectly. This is a dark, horrifying musical and, on screen, we are right up with the characters. If Sweeney had a voice like Michael Cerveris, the audience would be taken completely out of the moment. This is not the case on stage, but because of the way Burton approaches the material, the voices had to SOUND like the characters. And they do. Perfectly. Depp in particular brings a voice that tears into Sweeney’s songs. Is it ALWAYS pretty? Maybe not. Is it always appropriate to the character? Yes.
The rest of the cast also are pitch-perfect, particularly Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall. I was quite a fan of the look of Johanna and Anthony. And their exaggerated youth, along with the way John Logan structured his flawless screenplay, helped counterbalance their youth and innocence against Sweeney and Lovett’s corrupt existences. It begs the question, will life turn Johanna and Anthony into the sad, evil adults that populate the world of Sweeney?
John Logan and Tim Burton did a fantastic job in their adapting, particularly in the choosing of songs. I felt, overall, their choice of songs to keep and cut worked beautifully. And that 80-piece orchestra (directed by the wonderful Paul Gemignani and orchestrated by the legendary Jonathan Tunick) sounds GORGEOUS.
I know this is long, and I’m sorry. But I have to quickly list my two favorite moments of the movie. Spoilers for those that haven’t seen it. First, the Johanna counterpoint with Anthony and Sweeney, which is my favorite part of the show, was put together beautiful. It is the most gorgeous music in the show, and counterbalanced with Sweeney’s first killings…it is chilling. And the last 15 minutes are the most chilling of any movie I’ve ever seen. When Sweeney and Lovett waltz before he *SPOILER* pushes her into the furnace *SPOILER* was haunting in a way I have never seen.
All in all, this film is everything a stage-to-screen adaption SHOULD be. It was faithful to the material, but in the move to screen, it brought out things that would not be possible on stage. I feel, that in this production, SWEENEY finally became what it can be. A chilling, haunting, oddly moving examination, through real characters, at the darkest side of us all. I can’t wait to see it again and again. Call me crazy, call me biased…but SWEENEY, to me, is a masterpiece and the finest stage-to-screen adaptation in film history.
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
this is hilarious and idiotic at the same time. Sometimes I read the IMDB boards for a good laugh. 
