Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Sweeny Todd

A wonderful modern opera. Is there anything Johnny Depp can't do? He is unforgettable. July 9, 2008

Not the greatest ever made, but watchable

First of all, I'd like to give the actors an A for Effort, as we see how, even though they are NOT singers, they trained in ways they could for the movie. I usually don't mind movie soundtracks, but unless I'm watching this particular movie, I'm not going to listen to the soundtrack.

I'm not familiar with the Broadway version, but I did feel that this film was lacking in the humor department. Sacha Baron Cohen was comic relief early on in the film, along with Mrs. Lovett's dream, and later, Mrs. Lovett's ending (the sequence of events leading up to it probably had something to do with it). I love black comedy, I kept feeling like there should be some macabre humor mixed in, but it just wasn't happening.

The film was too dark. I don't mean dark as in thematic elements - as I enjoy "darker" fiction written by classic authors (Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Federico Garcia Lorca, etc.) - but the lighting was too dark. This is probably so we can focus on JUST HOW MUCH BLOOD is spilled, which was too bright, and took me out of the story thinking of what fake blood they used... in other words, it was distracting. Hell, I can't even identify with those who complain of too much blood - it was so fake-looking, people SHOULD be complaining about ruining good fabrics with orange paint. I think the film would've been just fine had they left the colors as they were.

However. I enjoyed the film. Not because it's particularly memorable, or astounding, or even because I empathize so greatly with Barker/Todd (though the transition of happy, loving father to vengeful, hateful sadist is a tragic, and plausible, one). I like this movie because I take it with a grain of salt. Sweeney Todd at the beach, or his awkwardness in kissing Mrs. Lovett, were great moments. I could laugh at the hodge-podge character Pirelli was (mixture of Spanish, Italian and French it seemed like), and the irony of Todd/Lovett's demise. I could also shake my head at how gullible Mrs. Lovett's customers were, that NOBODY (except for Toby) ever caught on that it was dear neighbor Henry for dinner tonight.

The bottom-line: Rent this movie, be sure you're loaded up on soda and popcorn. Do NOT take this movie seriously, and remember kids - it's just paint. July 8, 2008

Great movie!!

Well I looooove this film, and the dvd is pretty good. I haven't seen the special edition one, but this one's got a behind the scenes video, so it's not bad. Audio can be in english, french and spanish and with subtitles in any of these languages. Hope this works! =) July 8, 2008

Sweeney Todd

Given as gift and the recipient was thrilled. I was, however, disappointed at how long it took for me to receive this item. Shipping was slower than usual for Amazon. July 7, 2008

Not the greatest Tim Burton film I've seen...

I bought the special edition of Sweeny Todd recently because I'm a big fan of Tim Burton films such as Ed Wood, Corpse Bride, The Nightmare Before Christmas, etc., so I thought that this one would be just as good as the others. The songs are very good, the story is interesting, and all of the characters are connected to each other. The reason I gave this movie three stars is because it has A LOT of gore. I can't stand watching a lot of blood in a movie, but that's just me. If you can tolerate seeing gore, you'll probably like the movie more than I do. Other than that, it's a film worth seeing, but if you can't stand seeing blood or gruesome things, I would not recommend this film. July 7, 2008

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