Screenplay by John Logan, Adapting the musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler
Directed by Tim Burton
Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman and Sacha Baron Cohen

The best way to describe Tim Burton’s interpretation of Sweeney Todd is that he went out of his way to make A Tim Burton film using a genre that isn’t his normal work space; the musical. However, he fits well in this adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical. Sweeney Todd works because it is a film that lends itself to the director’s vision in a complete manner, illustrated by the presence of Burton stalwarts Jognny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter as the two leads in what is arguably the greatest gothic romance ever.

The story as told in flashback and song is the story of Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) who was sent to prison because a corrupt judge named Turpin (Alan Rickman) wanted his wife and child as his own. After escaping prison Barker come back to London to get his revenge. Barker reinvents himself as Sweeney Todd the Barber of Fleet Street, goes home to his old apartment and is informed by his former landlord Mrs. Lovett, (Helena Bonham Carter) that his wife had died and his child is the ward of the judge. Todd hearing this revelation decides to bring vengeance to all those who have ruined his life. As this progresses, and payback is done, the problem of the dead bodies pops up and Mrs. Lovett who owns a meat pie business decides that a new pie recipe would solve the body issue. Insanity, blood, and song progress until the final act when things go finally, and remarkably completely, wrong.

Musical fans will appreciate Sweeney Todd because most of the dialogue is sung, and sung very well. The singing by Depp, Carter, Rickman and Sacha Baron Cohen, none of whom are professional singers is so pronounced and nuanced that their performance delivers a full emotional range. Each actor was not only convincing but they pulled off the musical elements in definitively. This enables the film to deliver terror, fun and mayhem that’s convincing heartfelt and at the end truly tragic. The acting is actually important in this film because at the core of the film it is about love being lost, rejected and misinterpret by every character and how this love if dismissed can cause destruction.

Burton’s direction is very gray and dark and for the bleak nature of Sweeney Todd that’s an essential factor. The film was so drained of color that when color did emerge it was dramatic; in particular when the blood started flowing. The limited palate of color worked for the film because the only sign of life was the blood that escaped the victims of Todd’s vengeance. The look of Sweeney Todd delivers, perfectly, a cold Victorian world that saw life in death.

Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a film that deserves greater recognition than it has received because Tim Burton went and did something different while remaining in his comfort zone. It is one of the better adaptations of a musical and cash willing it does the most important thing a movie of a musical could do…make someone want to sit through the stage version.

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