Have a Shave and a Meat-Pie

by Kevin Clifford on 30 Dec 2007

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Photos by Warner Bros.

How would Shakespeare's plays look if he had the interesting and demented mind of Director Tim Burton? Or how would the musical movie "Rent" look if Burton told the actor's that their motivation was revenge, death and depression? "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" would be a close match.

The entire clamor about the movie has been the fact that actor Johnny Depp could sing. What people fail to mention is the fact that this movie might be one of the bloodiest musicals that you'll see in awhile.

One can tell this movie will be filled with blood and gore from the dark costumes and gloomy atmosphere that Burton is famous for. This works great with the original 1979 musical screenplay by Stephen Sondheim, who seems to have the same view of death as Burton does.

Burton's movie is set in a grungy and depressing 19th-century London, where Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) returns to enact revenge on the heartless Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) who imprisoned him in order to steal his hot lover Beadle Bamford.

The first set of problems that Todd faces is where to live and how to hide the bodies. In comes Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), the owner of London's worst meat-pie restaurant and a former acquaintance of Todd. Lovett has a lovable and questionable personality as she does everything for her friend Mr. Todd while he starts enacting revenge on the citizens of London.

Taste my meat-pies!

What better way to hide victums than in juicy and tasteful meat-pies. From the moment that Todd kills someone, the lovely Mrs. Lovett grinds and bakes the bodies for her cannibalistic pies. The hilarious thing is that people seem to enjoy the pies more with human meat than what she used before.

As Todd goes on a barber-killing spree, tension runs high when he sticks his blade to a costumer's neck. Will he kill this costumer or let him live? That depends what he's signing about and how depressed and hateful he is at that moment.

Anyone want a shave?

Of course in true Shakespearian form, there are consequences for the actions one takes. Most viewers can probably guess the ending halfway through the movie, which makes this movie less enjoyable than it could have been.

This movie was very enjoyable in the musical and visual sense. The acting complemented the musical signing seamlessly. However, some pirate can still be seen in Depp in a few scenes, which takes away from this totally different movie. The visuals are amazing that give the movie the perfect feeling of depression and death.

If you're a fan of musicals or serial killers, this movie will satisfy your senses and leave you with a different view of the two genres as this movie molds these two unlikely categories together.

SCORE: 4/5

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