I’ve heard that many people, after seeing the posters and even the trailers for this film, didn’t realize that it was a musical. I can only imagine their reaction when they went to the cinema to see it! Luckily I had a pretty good idea what I was in for, being familiar with both the stage show and Tim Burton, and I was quite pleased with this adaptation.
My main concern going into the film was the amount of gore it was reputed to have. I am not by any means a fan of horror films, and a bit squeamish about a lot of violence and blood. Luckily, the blood in the film doesn’t look at all realistic – I guess the filmmakers decided the subject matter was gruesome enough (and it is!) that to make the murders exactly realistic was unnecessary.
The other concern I had was the deletion of a great deal of the original score. The film is much shorter than the stage show, and there are some really great numbers lost, chief among them being “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”, which now just exists as an orchestral number. And yet, I didn’t feel that the story really suffered for it. It still flowed very well, and had enough character development that if anyone didn’t know there was supposed to be more to it, they probably wouldn’t notice.
The cast is also somewhat surprisingly good! Count me among the ones who didn’t know Johnny Depp could sing – but he does, and quite well! It’s not an operatic performance, and perhaps sometimes a bit too pop, but overall it’s well sung, and complements his excellent dramatic interpretation, which didn’t come as any surprise. You can picture Johnny Depp’s Sweeney as the innocent man he once was, and find yourself on his side, even as his desire for revenge leads to horrible crimes. I also have to say that his uncompromising moroseness in the dream sequence of “By The Sea” was one of the funniest moments of the film.
Helena Bonham Carter is also quite good as Mrs. Lovett. Her voice is nothing special, but she inhabits the character so fully that it’s not a major problem. Her relationship with Toby was especially moving. Alan Rickman was a perfect Judge Turpin (can that man do any wrong?), Sacha Baron Cohen was a great Pirelli, and Jamie Campbell Bower and Jayne Wisener were fine as Anthony and Johanna.
The look of the film is also great, the world of Sweeney’s London brought beautifully to life. In the end, I really enjoyed this film – it’s not an exact replica of the stage show, but it’s a very good adaptation, and I think that any fan of the show will find a lot to like here.