Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [2007]

Amazon.co.uk Review

After years of rumours, 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 humour 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.

Customer Reviews:

Certainly, have a stab at this!.......2008-03-15

This is the best cinematic musical that I have ever seen (beating Moulin Rouge which is really high up on my list.) From the set design to the costume design to the actors and the music and the humor and tragedy, there is absolutely no way you can't watch this movie.

Firstly, in my opinion the music is simply genius. I can't get the songs out of my head, they are that good and memorable, so of course I have bought the soundtrack. I rarely like every single song on an album, and Sweeney todd is the first at which I have loved every single song.

The acting is excellent- Johnny Depp does a fantastic job of playing Sweeney Todd. From just his expressions you can see what pain Sweeney is going through, and that in my opinion is clearly a sign of a goodd actor. Helena Bonham Carter does a great job of playing Mrs Lovett, and shows how her love for Sweeney Todd, despite being unrequited, she still does everything she can for him. Overall the standard of acting is high.

I was worried that the singing may have been the downfall of this movie, but all of the actors (despite only one of them being professionally trained) was really commendable. (Depp and Bonham Carter have really cool singing voices!)

Adapting this musical from the stage to movie was from what I know, a difficult tranfser, but I think Burton did a great job of it.

I can't fault Sweeney Todd at all, and would certainly recommend it to everyone. I'm looking forward to seeing what extras are going to be on the DVD.

This film, no dout, have changed my opion on musicals!.......2008-03-05

Well not really, but what I mean is I hate that hIGHsCHOOLmUSICAL rubbish (so much that is doesn't even deserve a capital at the beginning). But This brings my love of horror films, Burton & Depp films and good songs together in one magnificent work of art!!
Johnny has really done a fabulous job as the demon barber as well as looking considerably cute, you can believe that he's evil (if that makes any sense!). The songs are great, but you'd look weird if you walked around shopping centers singing along to epiphany on your ipod, but still great songs! I'd recommend it to anyone, well, apart from my little 2 yr old 2nd cousin, she might find it a bit too scary!

Johnny Depp excels as Sweeney Todd.......2008-03-05

Once again Johnny Depp made this movie, I cannot imagine any one else who could portray the dark broodiness of Sweeney Todd better than Johnny.

The songs, choreography and overall mood of this movie was extremely well done.

Gritty, down to earth, harsh and bleak. London as it would have been back then.

Go see it, you won't be disappointed.

Bloody Amazing.......2008-03-04

[Forgive the pun]

I saw this in cinema and I absolutely loved it, I wanted to see it again even before the credits were rolling.

The songs were all amazing [although "Green Finch and Linnett Bird" couldn't really be classed as amazing] I rushed out and bough the excellent soundtrack which i'm listening to even as I write this, and have been doing for weeks.

The only problem with the film was Anthony who irritated me no end, but I can put up with it for the rest of the amazing film!

Buy it, I know I will be, it won't disappoint!

Burton at his finest.......2008-03-04

I cannot say anything bad about this film. It is a masterpiece, there's no question about that and it is possibly one of Burton's finest films yet and a remarkable performance by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.
I usually find it quite difficult to get into film adaptations of musicals but this one blew me away.
This is essential viewing for any film lover, Depp or Burton fan.
The best film of 2008 yet.

Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [Blu-ray] [2007]

Average customer rating:

Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [Blu-ray] [2007]
Starring: Johnny Depp , Sacha Baron Cohen , Helena Bonham-Carter , Alan Rickman , and Timothy Spall
Director: Tim Burton
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: Blu-ray

Blu-ray | Format (binding_browse-bin) | Refinements | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B0012YG7RS
Release Date: 2008-05-19

Amazon.co.uk Review

Customer Reviews:

The years have changed him.......2008-03-03

Murder. Cannibalism. Death. Obsession. Revenge. Blood. Goth makeup. And lots of razors -- "at last, my arm is complete again!" Sweeney Todd exults.

Somehow it doesn't come as a shock to me that Tim Burton adapted Stephen Sondheim's musical "Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" -- or that he somehow spun it into something so delicious. That dark, grotesque, hilariously melodramatic story is perfectly suited to Burton's style, and Johnny Depp is absolutely stunning as the titular bloody barber.

The malignant Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) lusts after the wife of Benjamin Barker (Depp), so he convicts Barker of a crime he didn't commit, and enfolds his family into his evil hands.

But fifteen years later, the Barker returns to London and sets up a barber shop over Mrs. Lovett's ghastly meat pie store. Of course, he's enraged when he learns that his wife was raped and since poisoned herself, and that his daughter is the ward of the lecherous Judge. Enraged and maddened, Barker renames himself "Sweeney Todd" and vows revenge.

And he finds that he LOVES using his razors for a far bloodier task than shaving. With the help of Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) -- who finds a thrifty use for those bodies -- Todd cuts a bloody swathe through all who have wronged him. And when his daughter is punished for refusing to marry the cruel Judge, Sweeney closes in to get his revenge at last.

There's always been a gothic look to Burton's movies, and he's always dabbled in very twisted, macabre storylines. And he really tops himself with "Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" -- London is painted in black, white and grey, right down to the ghoulish faces of the characters, and their bleak little dens of horror. And songs -- lots of magnificently horrible songs.

But Burton pretty obviously adores the combination of gory grotesquerie and very, very sick humour ("They don't commit sins of the flesh, so it's pretty fresh"). And he doesn't try to make Sweeney or Mrs. Lovett palatable, thankfully. While we sympathize with Sweeney's losses, and the horrors that have changed him into the Demon Barber, you just can't pass over scenes where they sing, "It's man devouring man, my dear!" "Then who are we to deny it in here?"

There are some moments that relieve this gory gothic parade -- there's a sweet love story between Sweeney's daughter and a young sailor. And the plot becomes progressively darker toward the end (yes, it CAN get worse), when the plot throws us some shocking new twists, resulting in a Grecian-tragedy finale soaked in even more gore.

Oh yes, there's blood. Tons of it. It spurts like Monty Python's bloodier sketches, which ends up being more hilarious than yucky -- as is the casual introduction of cannibal meat pies. And there are some spectacularly gross moments, like a finger found in one of the pies.

Burton uses some of his favorite actors in this one, particularly Depp and Bonham-Carter. Depp is THE perfect ideal Sweeney Todd -- his creepy eyes, pallid face and still, almost seductive manner are perfect for the maddened murderous barber. He goes through the movie slashing his razors at the world, and injects a real creepiness into scenes like Sweeney cooing at his "friends."

While she's only a passable singer, Bonham-Carter is eerily wholehearted as Todd's equally amoral partner-in-crime, who is quite happy to assist him.... and make tastier pies in the process. Rickman is wonderfully loathsome as the Judge, and Sacha Baron Cohen has a small but priceless role as Pirello, a huckster acquaintance of Todd's who starts causing trouble. He really steals his scenes.

Most directors would have prettified, sanitized and defanged the grotesque "Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," but Tim Burton and Johnny Depp revel in the gore and madness. Astoundingly great.

good film... nothing compared to the musical.......2008-02-22

this film is an very good film... johnny depp and helena bonham carter work very well together and toby was very effective as a child... however ther are a few gripes i have with this film. since i saw the musical way b4 the film came out i had certain expectations of it... firstly, they cut out so many songs from it, which seeing as it's a film adaptation isn't so major... but due to this the roles of joanna and anthony were virtually cut entirely... this not being such a bad thing bcuz i felt that the people that they chose for the parts were just awful anyways. another thing was helena bonham carter... her voice was too nice... mrs lovett is a poor destitute woman living in the slums of london, her singing voice should be an ugly sound, but it was too pretty... another thing that i missed from the musical was all the chorus parts... most of the songs in the show hav chorus lines in them and since they didn't hav the chorus parts in it you didn't get the same feel... but all in all it was a good film, but if you really want to see sweeny todd go see it on the stage

DVD Review:

DVD Review List

DVD Review