Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
by Tim Burton
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DVD details
Actor: Alan Rickman, Edward Sanders, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Timothy SpallDirector: Tim Burton
Brand: PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Cinematographer: Dariusz Wolski
Composer: Stephen Sondheim
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Dubbed); Spanish (Dubbed)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 116 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-04-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Dreamworks Video
DVD Reviews of Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
DVD Review: No, no, no, no, no and no
Summary: 1 Stars
I adore Johnny Depp. I watch all of his movies (apart from Ed Wood, I just don't get it, and I hated Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and I figured I'd like Sweeney Todd. People I worked with raved about it, but I never got a chance to go see it at the cinema.
The DVD was a reasonable price - not THAT cheap, but not too expensive. But then what do I care, it wasn't actually me who bought it. A nice thought.
Sweeney Todd was completely pointless. The music wasn't in the slightest bit memorable (yet everyone who raved about the movie, raved about the soundtrack). The only thing that was memorable were the various scenes of throat cutting and shaving. From a girl who has a severe phobia of watching guys shave their faces, and can't even watch the razor adverts, it probably wasn't a great idea to watch a movie that predominately features shaving.
The only thing that impressed me about Sweeney Todd was Helena Bonham Carter. It's really the first movie I've seen her in, and she was actually really good - apart from the singing. But it wasn't just her. She wears a lot of black lacy dresses, with lots of cleavage on show to detract from the fact she was actually pregnant for most of filming. (Look out for them actually changing shape!) There's a lot of unrequited love on her part for Sweeney, and she mopes around like a lovesick teenager. Very unnerving from a grown woman.
The plot's very boring, with OTT singing, and lots of scenes where not a lot happens. Sacha Baron Cohen appears, who manages to slip flawlessly from an Italian accent to a cockney accent, but he wasn't a particularly stand out character. The singing was unnecessary, and I simply cannot remember a single song from it.
Don't get me wrong, I love musicals. Grease, Sound of Music, High School Musical, and there's probably a few more. But this just did not happen for me. I was continuously looking at the clock, but time seemed to move shockingly slowly.
Briefly looking at the other reviews on the main page, everyone seems to be raving about this. Did we see a different movie? The dialogue was absolutely terrible, it seemed to be constantly whispered, and I was so close to switching on the subtitles. The musical numbers never seem to really get going or take off. They just plod along, and that's probably why they're so not memorable. Johnny Depp seems to be phoning in his dialogue at all times, and he's so bland in it. I thought he liked playing eccentric characters, not boring ones. And he's done the cockney accent in the Pirates of the Carribbean movies (please no more of those either!), I had to actually tell someone the other night not to speak in that particular accent.
The grand finale fell flat on its gothic face. Not only was it predictable, but it just didn't match the rest of the movie. I can just imagine Burton struggling with the ending, and just deciding to do this to most of the main characters, and to hang with the subplots that are just left hanging.
Sweeney Todd is on a whole, not great. And to top it off, I can only find a couple of reviews that I actually agree with. There's some seriously mad people out there who like this movie. Johnny Depp has gone down in my opinion.
DVD Review: Not a Burton fan, but loved it
Summary: 4 Stars
My first thought upon finishing this film was, "how can something so dark and gory be so beautiful?" And it's true, to me at least. This movie is gory and gorgeous at the same time. It draws you in starting with the (rather creative) opening credits. I usually skip through those (who doesn't?), but I didn't this time. I have no idea why people are having problem with the casting, I thought everyone in this film was wonderful. I'm not even a Burton fan, but I thought Sweeney Todd definitely delivered. My only complaint is the ending, it seemed rushed and without much closure.DVD Review: The Worst Pies in London
Summary: 4 Stars
WARNING: This film contains graphic bloody violence.
Whenever Tim Burton makes a film with his wife, Helena Bonham Carter and his close friend, Johnny Depp as the film's stars... the result is typically bloody brilliant. That's certainly the case with Burton's filmed adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The film is a dark, morbid, brutally violent revenge melodrama that follows the life of a wrongfully imprisoned man, as he seeks out the deaths of anyone whoever did him harm. Unsurprisingly Johnny Depp plays Sweeney Todd to perfection. With his maniacal stare, brooding demeanor, and haunting vocals, he shows that he can not only sing but also tread the line that separates horror from comedy. Helena Bonham Carter is also magnificent as the delightfully dreary Mrs. Lovett, the owner of a bakery where she makes gruesome meat pies (guess where she gets the meat from). The film also stars Alan Rickman as the sinister Judge Turpin, Timothy Spall as the demented Beadle Bramford, and the hilarious Sacha Baron Cohen as rival barber, Adolfo Pirelli. The entire cast is superb and part of what makes their performances so stunning is that none of them are professional singers. Though they might not possess the vocal talents that the cast of the stage musical had, they bring their own personalities and their own unique style to the songs, which have never sounded more contemporary.
Benjamin Barker was a talented barber and a devoted husband, whose idyllic life was intruded upon by tragedy and conspiracy. He was accused of a crime that he did not commit and sent to prison for fifteen years. After being released he makes his way back to his London home, where he reestablishes his barbershop on Fleet Street, but he now goes by the name of Sweeney Todd. Sweeney discovers that his imprisonment was the result of the scheming Judge Turpin, who coveted Barker's wife and then raised his daughter, Johanna as his own. Sweeney craves the satisfaction of bloody revenge, so he forms an alliance with the deranged Mrs. Lovett. It is Mrs. Lovett who conceives of the plan of disposing the bodies of Sweeney's victims by putting them into meat pies. So while Sweeney reduces London's impoverished populace, Mrs. Lovett creates the worst pies in London. Soon the situation becomes sticky when a young sailor falls in love with Johanna, earning the wrath of Judge Turpin and his toady, Beadle Bramford. And things only worsen when Adolfo Pirelli, a mountebank barber, discovers Todd's identity, which forces Todd to kill him in a particularly grotesque manner. As the bodies pile up and Todd descends into a self-destructive cycle of revenge, fortuitous circumstances lead him to make decisions that horrifically alter the lives of all involved.
The screenplay by John Logan is based upon Stephen Sondheim's musical, but he also makes sly references to English folklore and gothic horror stories. The film's greatest strengths are the quality of the acting combined with Sondheim's brilliant music. However the film is flawed in its execution. Quite often there's too much focus on throat slitting, which quickly becomes monotonous, as well as nauseating for squeamish viewers. Personally, the bloodletting itself didn't bother me so much as the repetitive nature of it. It's unfortunate that Tim Burton couldn't have found a way to show the killings in a more creative slapstick style. The film's look is priceless due to the immaculately created sets, costumes, and props, which plunge viewers into the seedy underworld of London in the 19th Century.
All in all, Sweeney Todd is a macabre masterpiece, a musical/dark comedy/horror hybrid that will either become reviled or beloved in time.
Also recommended:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show / Shock Treatment
Edward Scissorhands
Ed Wood
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Sleepy Hollow
From Hell
The Phantom of the Opera
Corpse Bride
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street: The Motion Picture Soundtrack
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Mark Salisbury
DVD Review: Watchable But Flawed
Summary: 3 Stars
Though decidedly watchable, Mr. Burton's attempt to translate a great black comedy/tragedy/musical to the screen is only partially successful. The production design is gorgeously macabre, the majority of the cast is quite good and Sondheim's memorable score remains as virtuosic as ever.
However...the musical numbers frequently are unimaginatively and repetitively staged ("By the Sea" being a notable exception) and the two leads are disappointingly miscast. Both Johnny Depp & Helena Bonham Carter are very able and talented actors, but here have not the vocal power, grim humor and maturity required for the parts. While watching the film, this viewer kept thinking that Alan Rickman, here cast as Judge Turpin, would have proved a far more convincing Sweeny; perhaps a Glenn Close or Miranda Richardson, a wonderful Mrs. Lovett.
Instead, Depp and Bonham-Carter come off as very talented leads in an ambitious High School production.
DVD Review: A Musical of a Different Breed
Summary: 5 Stars
I know that most people are not in line clamoring to see a musical, but this is one is different. It's not very often that you find a tale of love, revenge and horror all wrapped nicely into a musical. Sondheim's score is beautiful. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter completely embodied their respective characters. Sacha Baron Cohen's appearance was enjoyable. And who doesn't love Alan Rickman! There is a lot of blood in this movie, but I would consider it more cartoony than flat out gore. It's touching, it's funny, it's sick, it's enjoyable, it's dark, it's Sweeney Todd and it's a 5 star movie. I'm not out to change the world and get everyone to suddenly watch all musicals because not all musicals are good (ie: Rent), but this one is definitely the exception to the rule.
Description of Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton join forces again in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical thriller "Sweeney Todd." Depp stars in the title role as a man unjustly sent to prison who vows revenge not only for that cruel punishment but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop Sweeney Todd becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who "shaved the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again." Joining Depp is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett Sweeney's amorous accomplice who creates diabolical meat pies. The cast also includes Alan Rickman who portrays the evil Judge Turpin who sends Sweeney to prison and Timothy Spall as the Judge's wicked associate Beadle Bamford and Sacha Baron Cohen is a rival barber the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli.System Requirements:Running Time: 116 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre:?HORROR/PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER Rating:?R UPC:?097363500643 Manufacturer No:?350064After years of rumors, it turns out that Tim Burton was the perfect visionary to film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim's Broadway masterpiece, and the result is a macabre and moving musical movie as enthralling as anything Burton has ever done. The show's mix of gothic horror, Grand Guignol, very dark humor, and witty and beautiful music never was the stuff of traditional musical comedy, but it's a powerful work, and perhaps the richest of the late 20th century. In the movie, Burton's frequent collaborator, Johnny Depp, plays Todd, a wronged man whose lust for revenge drives him to murder (an 19th-century legend who has been traced to a real-life barber). Helena Bonham Carter, another Burton mainstay, is Mrs. Lovett, the barber's partner-in-unspeakable-crime. It's no surprise that Depp is an excellent choice to convey Todd's brooding intensity and volcanic rage, but he can also sing a score that is so challenging it has often played in opera houses (though not with the same style as the Broadway original, Len Cariou, and he occasionally lapses into pop style). Bonham Carter is small of voice and lacks the humor of the original Broadway Lovett, Angela Lansbury, but she sings on pitch, in rhythm, and in character at the same time, which is no small feat for a Sondheim show. Aficionados will regret the loss of certain musical passages--"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" is just an instrumental overture and the chorus is gone altogether, among others--but the reassuring presence of orchestrator Jonathan Tunick and conductor Paul Gemignani ensures that the music feels right and sounds great. And the film's depiction of a Victorian London hellhole--with cinematography by Dariusz Wolski and costumes by Colleen Atwood--also looks and feels right.
The excellent cast is filled out by Alan Rickman as the villainous Judge Turpin, Timothy Spall as his seedy Beadle, Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) as a rival barber, Jamie Campbell Bower as the young lover Anthony, Jayne Wisener as his object of affection, and Ed Sanders as the young Toby. For fans of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp who don't think they like musicals, Sweeney Todd should be a revelation (though not for the squeamish, as the gore is intense and completely appropriate). For fans of Broadway and Sondheim, it's hard to imagine getting a better adaptation than this. The fact that there's no newly composed Oscar-bait song sung by a Josh Groban-type over the end credits only makes it better. --David Horiuchi
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