Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [Film Review]

I'm not a huge fan of Burton. I hate, hate, hate, hate, HATED Beetlejuice. His Batman was meh at best. Though I did enjoy Charlie and the Chocolate Factory more than some, and I believe that he made a masterpiece with Big Fish, generally his work has disappointed me, and his films are very overrated by most, at least by the non-film critiquing crowd.

But this is a really excellent film, and possibly where his dark style works best with the story and script. In many of his other films it has been very underwhelming or completely ruined the entire movie. Here it works just splendidly, both visually and tonally. It's really just the perfect way to tell this story.

It's also a great cast, or at least a great leading cast. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, two Burton favorites, work terrifically together, especially in their incredible duets. Some other more minor performances, such as that of Sacha Baron Cohen, Timothy Spall, and Alan Rickman, are also great.

The plot of the film is immensely dark and horrific when thought of seriously, but Stephen Sondheim's excellent and often comedic lyrics lighten the mood a lot. The film could be placed in the odd genre which very few films have occupied, musical comedic horror. Sondheim's skill here also gives me reason to anticipate the upcoming film, Into the Woods, despite the fact that it will likely be cheesed up by Disney.

Of the three Burton films I have really enjoyed, this is my least favorite, but its still tremendous. Granted its likely more enjoyable for me in Winter for some odd reason, but the music is always lovable and the characters are beautifully eccentric.