Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

I had a weird reaction to this movie. I knew while watching it that it was a film of quality. It looks great, with great performances, and is filled with wonderful production design that captures the tone of the musical perfectly but as I sat there and watched all these things combine to become the final film I realized that I just wasn't a fan. I enjoy most of Tim Burton's other films and this one is obviously very Brutonesque but maybe that is the problem, it is almost too much of a perfect match for him. With the Gothic architecture and 19th century rock star costumes it all adds up to exactly what you would expect in a Burton film.

Since I recognize that the movie is of quality, just not for me, I have decided to make a list of three things I liked and three things I disliked from the film. This seems to be the easiest way to do this.

THE GOOD

1. Sacha Baron Cohen as Todd's dueling barber Signor Adolfo Pirelli. He is perfect here with an over the top Italian accent and a costume that is too crazy to even describe. He is almost the antithesis to Johnny Depp, all bold moves and loud gestures. I wish he could have been in the movie more.

2. The entire musical sequence set under the bright sun on the seaside. Johnny Depp's reactions to Helena Bonham Carter's song are priceless and all it's nice to come out into the sun after all the gloom from the rest of the movie.

3. The performances. Again, all of these are good (except one) and they all work within the musical genre. None of theme seem out of place breaking into song during the middle of scenes.

THE BAD

1. Timothy Spall. He plays Beadle Bamford, right hand man to the films nemesis, Judge Turpin. This being a villain I know the audience is supposed to hate his character, and I did. I also hate his performance. So vile without even a hint of humanity, it is one note, the wrong one.

2. The ending feels way too abrupt. There are loose threads that are left untied at the conclusion that should be dealt with. Major characters are left on the verge of changing their lives and we are never told what fates lay ahead for them.

3. I just wasn't much a fan of the songs from the film. Probably 70% of the entire film is sung and none of them ever captured me the way great musicals usually do. Sure there are little melodies or orchestrations here and there that I enjoyed but as a whole they didn't do a lot for me.

Then again, who knows? Maybe I'll revisit this somewhere down the road and really enjoy the film.