Sweeney Todd

Based on Stephen Sondheim’s 1979 musical, Sweeney Todd casts Johnny Depp as Benjamin Barker – a barber whose efforts at exacting revenge against those who wronged him are sidetracked by his participation in a profitable (and grisly) meat-pie business with neighbor Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter). While there’s certainly no shortage of positive attributes within Sweeney Todd – including Tim Burton’s expectedly grandiose directorial choices and Depp’s wonderfully entertaining performance – the film suffers from a relentless emphasis on bland, thoroughly forgettable musical numbers whose sameness inevitably lends the proceedings a distinctly oppressive quality. And although there are a few admittedly memorable songs sprinkled here and there – ie “My Friends,” Barker’s bizarre ode to his knives, and a touching ballad entitled “Johanna” – the movie primarily comes off as a strangely interior piece of work that seems to transpire mostly within the confines of one tiny room. That the running time has been padded out with a whole host of superfluous subplots and supporting characters certainly doesn’t help matters, with the would-be romance between Barker’s daughter and a scrappy young sailor clearly the most obvious example of this. The end result is a film that’s sporadically intriguing but mostly dull, which is undoubtedly the last thing one would expect from a filmmaker with as flawless a track record as Burton.

** out of ****