Synopsis:

After being sent away by Judge Turpin, Sweeney Todd a.k.a Benjamin Barker returns to London with the help of a sailor, Anthony Hope. He opens a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop, where she sells "the worst pies in London." With the help of Mrs. Lovett, Todd means to rid London of the corrupt aristocracy, and hopes to be reunited with his daughter, Johanna, who is now Judge Turpin's ward.

The Freak's Rating: C : This is a hard film for me to not recommend.  It is beautiful.  The sets are amazingly detailed, the camera work is gritty, the acting is superb...but there are enough flaws that it is the middle of the road for me.  Johnny Depp is deserving of his nomination for this role as he plays Sweeney Todd with just enough evil.  Helena Bonham Carter is adequate as Mrs. Lovett and Alan Rickman is wonderful, as always, as the villain (?) of the film.  The young man playing Johanna's love interest is incredibly annoying and I was praying for him to die throughout the film.  Sasha Baron Cohen is decent as Pirelli in a bit part.

The main problems with the film are two fold, music and violence. 

The violence is disturbing and unnecessary at times.  The butchering of Sweeney's clients is over the top and really could have been successful being shown once then hinted at or shown from a different angle for the remainder of the film.  Instead, each and every murder is shown in repetitive detail.  The same angles, the same style and the same cartoonish blood spurting wore thin for me.

Sometimes people chalk up unappreciative remarks on a Broadway-based film to the fact that you haven't seen the show.  I disagree with this philosophy because of my love for other films with the same origin.  You shouldn't have to see it on stage to appreciate an adaptation of it.  If the adaptation is done right, it will stand on its own.  Chicago is a great example of an effective adaptation.  The music was fantastic in Chicago and I instantly was humming the tunes afterward.  Sweeney Todd's music isn't even in the same ballpark.  Music drones on with disruptive rhythm at times and lyrics stretch outside of their stanzas in disarray.  The score of the film is solid, but most of the tunes have little heart to them and certainly don't lend themselves to humming afterwards.  

Sweeney Todd is beautiful, as I said, but falls short of accomplishing what a good Broadway-based musical should...getting me to want to buy the soundtrack and see it on stage.

Jen's Rating: C- : This is only in the C category because I liked some of the music and the acting was good by Johnny Depp plus the set design and costumes were interesting.  I'm not a fan of Tim Burton, his movies are just weird and creepy.  That's definitely what this movie was.  VERY bloody, several parts were hard to watch or I didn't watch.  The concept of how they make money is downright disturbing.  I don't think I'll be watching this again.  If you like goth, blood and musicals this will be your new favorite movie.  Had it not been a musical it would definitely be in the D category.

Sebastian's Rating: C+ : The movie was well done. there was alot of fake blood, and i found the storyline nothing appealing. it was dark, and gritty, but not horrific. the music was good on the only-bright side. Nothing i can say to someone about this film, like it was fantastic. it was a bit tensing at times, when he first slits someones neck, was a little unnecessary, however overall it was fairly enjoyable.

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