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film: Sweeney Todd
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
director: Tim Burton
cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Boham Carter
Dreamworks/Warner Brothers / 2007
score: 94
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by Kaare Kvenild
Sweeney Todd is a near perfect film and one of the top five movies of the year (in this writer's opinion). A superb cast, excellent director, wonderful music and ominous sets make this one of the most enjoyable films of 2007. But be warned, this is not your grandparents musical like Sound of Music, this is a dark, gothic-horror musical. This is a Tim Burton musical!
Based on the stage musical by Stephen Sondheim, Sweeney Todd tells the story of an English barber (Johnny Depp), Sweeney Todd, who returns to London after a fifteen-year exile to seek revenge on those that sent him to the Australian Prison Colony. Todd was sent to Australia on a bogus charge by the fiendish Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) who wanted Todd's wife for himself. Todd returns to London with a vendetta and finds a compatriot in Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter) who runs the worst pie shop in London. The funny thing is, that as soon as Todd begins to exact revenge on his victims, Mrs. Lovett's pie shop becomes the best in town (hint-hint). Sorry folks, I can't give it all away!
Burton's screen adaptation of Sweeney Todd is pure brilliance; it is probably his best work since Ed Wood. He casts actors that as far as we know have little to no experience in musicals, but all pull it off flawlessly. Ten years ago I would have had second thoughts about seeing a musical with Johnny Depp in the lead, but Depp has guided his career very well the last few years and this is no exception. Depp deserves any recognition he gets for Sweeney Todd. It will be well deserved. But one of the characters that is not listed in the credits is London itself. Production designer Dante Ferretti creates a dark, dirty and sinister London that comes alive with every scene. If everything else about the movie were bad, the set design would at least be admired. With as good of film as Sweeney Todd, we don't have to worry about "what ifs."
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