Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

   Welcome to Tim Burton week on my blog! For my first Burton review, I shall talk about Tim's adaptation of the dark Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Starring Tim Burton regular, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech), Timothy Spall (Secrets & Lies), and the late Alan Rickman (Harry Potter and Die Hard).

   Our story is set in the Victorian days of London. A barber named Benjamin Barker (Depp) had a beautiful wife named Lucy and a baby girl named Johanna. A vicious judge named Turpin (Rickman) accuses Barker of a false crime. After years of banishment, Benjamin Barker, now calling himself Sweeney Todd, returns to London to seek revenge on the judge. He finds his barber shop on top of a meat pie shop owned by widow Mrs. Lovett (Carter). Mrs. Lovett tells Sweeney that Turpin has taken Johanna, and Lucy killed herself because of the judge's lust for her. This angers Sweeney. And so, he reopens his barber shop where he lures his customers to the barber chair and kill them with a slit on the throat with his razor. His corpses are then turned into meat pies, with help from Mrs. Lovett. Now all Sweeney has to do is to convince Judge Turpin to give him a shave so he can get his sweet revenge.

    This adaptation is very Burtonesque, with Gothic hues, biting sarcastic humor, and larger than life characters. It differs from the original Broadway production, such as cutting the opening number and its closing reprise. But the visuals were so breathtaking, especially the "By the Sea" number, in which the scene was all bright colors while the rest of the movie was in grey hues. Johnny Depp, with his makeup done by Burton regular Ve Neill and his effectively gruff singing voice, totally captured the character for Sweeney Todd. Helena Bonham Carter's performance as Mrs. Lovett was as melodramatic as the film itself. And of course Alan Rickman's performance as Judge Turpin was exactly what you'd expect of a Rickman performance... outstanding. 

Parents Guide: This musical is rated R mostly for it's graphic, bloody violence. Definitely not for kids. There's some mild sex references in the film too, including a scene where it's implied that a woman was raped.  Not much profanity, just two uses of the S word.

Did You Know?: The original Broadway production premiered in 1979 with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. To prepare for the lead role, Johnny Depp recorded demo tapes of himself singing to get his vocals in shape. This is the second musical Johnny Depp has been in, but the first where he actually sings. (He lip synced in Cry Baby). Nicole Kidman (my favorite actress) was considered for the part of Mrs. Lovett.

Notice how the movie is shot in grey colorless hues.

Notice the color in this scene compared to the rest of the movie.