Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Dir: Tim Burton (Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sleepy Hallow, Edward Scissorhands)
Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Ed Sanders, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Laura Michelle Kelly, Jayne Wisener
USA/UK, 2007

Seen: December 30/07 at Scotiabank

Reason to see: Tim Burton. Johnny Depp. Helena Bonham Carter. A musical. Highly stylized. To be honest, you couldn't keep me away from this film if you tried.

This film comes out with perfect timing, with the resurgence of musicals in past number of years I think we were ready to see something a little darker, or a whole lot darker than before on the screen. I was delightfully surprized watching the film as I wasn't familiar with the plot at all even though it is based on a Stephen Sondheim musical, and musical it was! It is a straight-up musical and that may take some people a while to settle into if they are new or adverse to the genre. I found I slipped into this dark world quite easily as the stylization is pitch perfect from the colour of the film, to the set to the fantastic costumes. The atmosphere is everything you can imagine and more. After that, we are treated to the wonderful performances of a brilliant ensemble cast. Johnny Depp truly is one of the best actors of our day, and Helena Bohnam Carter has the presence and the timing that is magical.

Although I have already written my favourite films of 2007 prior to seeing this, I am adding it to the this. It is just that good.

Warnings: Blood, grisliness and all around creepiness

Shannon's Overall View:
It was fantastic!
I'll buy it
I recommend it, but to those that can stomach the bloody factor

14 minutes of preshow including 6 commercial and 5 previews: 27 Dresses, Vantage Point, Fool's Gold, Stop Loss, The Ruins

Big annoyance: 2 very large groups of filmgoers (6-8) came in just as the last preview was ending. They are lucky they didn't sit in front of me!

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© Shannon Ridler, 2008