Eye Candy #140 - "Sweeney Todd"

Sweeney Todd: Really liked this movie, but I can't put my exact finger on why. I'm not a gigantic fan of musicals - there are those that are spectacular(like the film version of "Chicago") and those that aren't. But this is probably the perfect marriage between Tim Burton and his quirky artistic sensibilities (the odd and gothic, specifically) and musical theater. It also may be the closest he's come to filming an out-and-out horror film. Sweeney Todd is a barber returned from prison to seek revenge on the corrupt judge who falsely imprisoned him, drove his wife to suicide, and stole his daughter. He falls in with a pie-maker who comes up with "novel" uses for the bodies of his victims. Johnny Depp, while being a Burton regular, is not a trained vocalist, yet he does well in the film as Sweeney Todd and with Stephen Sondheim musicals, this is no mean feat. Alan Rickman is solid as Judge Turpin, the corrupt official who ruined Todd's life. And we've got Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, the piemaker, who may be the weakest link in this film (and the most nepotistic casting as she's Burton's significant other) but she's also given some of the more difficult pieces to perform and like Depp, does not have a musical background. Gory in a very theatrical way (all the blood is red paint) and not for children, this is en entertaining film, kept my attention, and was the perfect length (about 100 minutes or so). Woodchuck sez, "Me likey".