Saturday, January 19, 2008

Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp up the odd ante in their sixth collaboration together. Based on the musical, Sweeny Todd is a great delight with its songs, allowing Depp and Helena Bonham Carter to deliver unique performances that you never saw coming. The lyrics inspirational, the choreography well paced, it all begins as a darkly gorgeous tale. But once the violence begins, everything falls into tired repetition.

Throat after throat is slashed before it becomes a quick bore. The ketchup-colored blood doesn’t help much either, even if that’s what Burton is going for.
Although mostly entertaining -anchored by another great Depp performance- Sweeny Todd works hard to be different, but ends up falling a little flat. B-

No comments:

Post a Comment