DreamWorks'

Sweeney Todd

Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen, Laura Michelle Kelly

Directed by: Tim Burton

RS: 3.5of 4 Stars Average User Rating: 3.5of 4 Stars

2007 Paramount Studios All Movies

More information from

For the holidays, Tim Burton serves up the sugarplum tale of serial-killing barber Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp), who slits the throats of his customers and then, with the help of bake-shop owner Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), grinds up the corpses and serves them as meat pies to a salivating if unsuspecting public. What more do you want in a musical? So get prepped, gore addicts — Sweeney Todd, subtitled The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and set in nineteenth-century London, is ninety percent sung. And doing the lion's share of the warbling is Depp, who has never sung a note onscreen and still has the sand to take on a landmark musical by legend Stephen Sondheim that leaves trained opera stars feeling daunted. A recipe for disaster? You'd think. Instead, Sweeney Todd is a thriller-diller from start to finish: scary, monstrously funny and melodically thrilling. And Depp is simply stupendous. He's not Pavarotti and doesn't try to be, but his light baritone has clarity, timbre and emotive power. Depp erases the line between singing and acting, fusing them into something that keeps the movie blazing. Oscar, take note. This Sweeney is a bloody wonder, intimate and epic, horrific and heart-rending as it flies on the wings of Sondheim's most thunderously exciting score. Burton is a true visionary, and with the help of cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, costume whiz Colleen Atwood and production designer Dante Ferretti he sets a new gold standard for bringing a stage musical to the screen. Burton knows that Sweeney Todd has been sacrosanct in theater circles since its Broadway debut in 1979, starring Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. He knows that what Sondheim composes is considered holy writ. And yet Burton and screenwriter John Logan (Gladiator) have deleted songs, abridged characters and sliced an hour off the show's three-hour running time in the name of keeping the tale fixed on Sweeney's need for vengeance. What's our boy so pissed about? As a young barber, he doted on his wife and baby daughter. The wife's beauty attracted Judge Turpin (a superlatively creepy Alan Rickman), a sexual predator protected by the law in the person of Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall). A trumped-up charge sent the barber to an Australian prison and the judge into rape mode. Fifteen years later, Sweeney is back in London, a shock of white in his hair to match his deathly pallor. Mrs. Lovett, his former landlady, tells him that his wife went mad and took her own life, and that the judge now plans to marry Johanna (Jayne Wisener), Sweeney's daughter. That's the setup. In the soaring duet "My Friends," Mrs. Lovett sings of her love for Sweeney while he declares his passion for his razor ("At last my right arm is complete again"). Sweeney regains his tonsorial rep by defeating Pirelli, a rival barber done to a low-comic turn by Sacha Baron Cohen, and tempts the judge into his barber chair. The two sing one of Sondheim's loveliest ballads ("Pretty Women"), but just before the barber can put blade to the villain's throat, Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), a young sailor also in love with Johanna, interrupts and sends the judge scurrying. Sweeney snaps, and in his strongest anthem ("Epiphany") vows to take revenge on all mankind. Cue the corpses and the meat pies, as a beggar woman (Laura Michelle Kelly) sings of a "city on fire." Burton's use of blood is impressionistic, not realistic. But the prudes still whine about the R-rated violence. When did we become a nation of wimps? This brilliantly conceived and executed film moves from one highlight to another. The darkly delicious Bonham Carter rivals Depp in using an untrained voice to anchor lyrics to truth rather than showoff technique. She is funny and touching singing "By the Sea," a number that brings the screen alive with color as Mrs. Lovett imagines the impossible: Sweeney returning her desire. Later, Bonham Carter evokes chills in "Not While I'm Around," a ballad of devotion she croons to her young apprentice, Toby (the excellent Ed Sanders), just before she arranges his demise. As the film follows its tragic course, Depp scores an explosive triumph. Covered in blood, Sweeney is finally engulfed by his emotions, and Depp finds the character's grieving heart. It's a staggering moment in a spellbinder of breathtaking beauty and terror.

>>Watch Peter Travers' video review of Sweeney Todd here.

>>Watch every episode of our weekly Peter Travers video podcast by subscribing via iTunes here (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Friday, a new episode featuring clips from the week's newest movies will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

>>PLUS: Watch Peter Travers interview Sweeney Todd director Tim Burton on ABC.com here.



PETER TRAVERS

(Posted: Dec 13, 2007)

Your Turn

Give us your review of
Sweeney Todd

Review 1 of 21

David92 writes:

4of 4 Stars


i needed so much one of this movies

Jun 17, 2008 09:42:38

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Review 2 of 21

Thaddeus writes:

4of 4 Stars


This story is about as dark as they come but it is in an odd way beautiful I think it is because although there is blood flying around everywhere the visual effects are stunning.

The cast of this film are exellent with Johnny Depp doing well with and eerie gothic tone that only he would be able to manage. Helena Bonham Carter equals and even surpasses Depp in the acting side but deffinetly in the singing side with a tear jerking My Friends a heart warming By the Sea and an Eerie nothing's going to harm you and all the songs she sings are fantastic.

The supporting cast was equally goo Spall aty his slimy best Rickman really oozing Erotic Heat and the youn Ed Saunders singing his heart out.

The only acting that I don't like is the young couple they either overact or underact and need to learn to control themselves.

May 11, 2008 02:03:32

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Review 3 of 21

robb52 writes:

4of 4 Stars


Not a big fan of the blood and guts thing[weenie!], but, this is, hands down, one of the best flicks of last year. Period.
Mr. Burton continues to be one of the true visionary director's working today, and his # 1 muse, J. Depp, continues to shine!
Not a big fan of musicals either and the songs were neo-opera in style and content, but again, with Burton and Depp you can't go wrong.
It's a bloody masterpiece of a movie.

Mar 3, 2008 18:20:34

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Review 4 of 21

eavill writes:

Not Rated


Sweeney Todd is an exceptional movie! I am not really a fan of theatrical shows but like I said earlier, this is an exceptional one. The type of movie is very well matched with its setting - 19th century. Unlike the other musical films, Sweeney Todd made me stay awake from the start of the film until the end. This movie may not be mainstream but the people who watch it are those who are sharp-minded. One thing I like about Sweeny Todd also is that its story is unpredictable. I find movies with a very predictable story boring and unintellectual. This movie makes you think of what the next scene could be. Indeed, it is very thrilling. The gory scenes also add to the excitement, not that I am a person who likes to see blood. Also, what makes the movie great is the lead character. Johnny Depp really deserves to be Sweeney Todd even though he is not really known as a musical actor. In fairness, he managed to be in the right tone. This movie is one of the best films I've watched.

Feb 19, 2008 04:47:54

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Review 5 of 21

bushrafarah writes:

4of 4 Stars


Sweeney Todd, reminded me of the play The Phantom Of The Opera and The Movie The Producers. At the end of Sweeney Todd movie I stood up in the middle of theater and I'm the only one in the cinema, in the ARAB world who loved it, understood it and wanted to see it again at the same time. I LOVE THIS MOVIE

Feb 17, 2008 11:45:58

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Review 6 of 21

rikedz2 writes:

4of 4 Stars


I think Sweeney Todd was a blast. I really appreciated the movie even though I don't like musicals. In fact, there's this song that's stuck in my head. It's Anthony's line, "I'll steal you Joanna.." For some who didn't like Depp's voice, I say you should've lessened your expectations. It's not like Johnny Depp was really meant for a musical. Maybe Burton was just experimenting, and I say he did good, even though I'm not a Burton fan.

Feb 8, 2008 00:21:10

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Review 7 of 21

Stephg24 writes:

4of 4 Stars


I do find it quite amusing that everyone knocks the song/dance/singing almost like they're attributing it to Tim Burton or the actors...it was a broadway musical people before it was a film so it would have been ludicrous to make any major changes! I thought that Depp & Bonham Carter did fantastic in the singing/dancing bits. It was theatrical with that Tim Burton Gothica feel to it. I absolutely loved it.

Jan 31, 2008 08:00:01

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Review 8 of 21

Stephg24 writes:

4of 4 Stars


I do find it quite amusing that everyone knocks the song/dance/singing almost like they're attributing it to Tim Burton or the actors...it was a broadway musical people before it was a film so it would have been ludicrous to make any major changes! I thought that Depp & Bonham Carter did fantastic in the singing/dancing bits. It was theatrical with that Tim Burton Gothica feel to it. I absolutely loved it.

Jan 31, 2008 08:00:01

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