This entry was posted on Friday, December 21st, 2007 at 12:01 am and is filed under Comedy, Horror, Movie Reviews, Musicals, NEW ON VIDEO, S. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jayne Wisener, Ed Sanders
Stephen Sondheim’s Demon Barber of Fleet Street, has escaped Broadway, with Tim Burton’s help, and has landed on film critics’ lists all over the country. Burton’s style is stamped all over this visually splendid and atmospheric musical. The writing is grimly humorous and most of the dialog is delivered through rapid fire song lyrics. Depp is hypnotic as the butchering barber with Fleet Street’s fastest razors, and the rest of the cast is strong, as well.
Depp is Benjamin Barker, a happy young married barber, whose beautiful wife is coveted by the evil Judge Turbin (Alan Rickman). Barker is framed and sent to a penal colony. When he returns twenty years later, he meets Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), owner of the worst pie shop in London. She informs Barker that his wife has killed herself and that his daughter is now the ward of Turbin. Bent on revenge, Barker adopts the name of Sweeney Todd and plans to bring about the downfall of the judge and his goon/lackey, Beadle (Timothy Spall). Revenge is a dirty business, in general, but it rarely gets as dirty as it does here.
Dark humor, dark atmosphere, dark characters and dark story. Did I mention that it is dark? Think back to the Little Shop of Horrors for a similar genre comparison. Tim Burton fans will love it and Broadway musical fans will probably love it, too. Tim Burton knows his business, so if his tastes match up with yours, then this one is for you.
