STUDIO: DreamWorks/Paramount
RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2008
STARRING: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, and Laura Michelle Kelly
WRITTEN BY: John Logan
DIRECTED BY: Tim Burton
It’s strange how movie musicals are hits and misses with moviegoers. Although the musical hasn’t yet suffered a slow and tragic death on the big screen, success has often depended on the specific generation of moviegoers and their tolerance for projects from a bygone era. In today’s world, I can’t remember the last time I heard someone express a deep love of musicals. Well, certainly not from anyone under the age of 30. It’s a shame. Aside from late night airings of such classic as Singing in the Rain or The Wizard of Oz, what type of exposure do younger moviegoers get in the way of movie musicals? Sure, there’s the animated classics like The Lion King and other recent animated musicals, but when’s the last time you saw something new on the scale of greatness as Fiddler of the Roof and West Side Story? And no, South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut doesn’t count. The only live-action that comes to mind, and close to a well-made modern classic, is Moulin Rouge and, believe it or not, that was seven years ago. When Tim Burton made The Nightmare Before Christmas though, it proved that there are even more directors out there who love musicals and can make them well.
At any rate, when Tim Burton signed on to adapt Stephen Sondheim’s pioneering 1979 operatic stage play Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and then recruited Johnny Depp for the title role, it seemed like a great, creative endeavor and a perfect match. In many ways, it was. Given Burton’s dark cinematic legacy with such shadowy and offbeat films as Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, and Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd was in good hands. In fact, there wasn’t much room for failure and it was almost a no-brainer that Burton would do justice to Sweeney Todd, flaws and all. Sure, Sweeney Todd won Best Picture at the Golden Globes and turned a huge profit when you factor in foreign box-office receipts, but there’s more to it than that.
Synopsis:
Taken from our own film review of Sweeney Todd, which can be found here.
"Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) was once a happy man with a wife and child, but he was falsely imprisoned and his family stolen from him. Years later, he returns to London, takes up residence above a meat pie shop owned by Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), and finds an unusual way to get his revenge on not only the people that wronged him and his family, but also the ones who turned a blind eye as injustice was done. Barker changes his name to Sweeney Todd and comes home with a young man named Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), who falls for the comely lass in town named Johanna. Johanna is being held captive by the nefarious Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who rules the town with his sidekick, Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall). Mr. Todd comes up with a vicious plan to get his vengeance, give Mrs. Lovett some business, and even help Anthony save the fair Johanna. And it all comes with a song, a dance, and buckets of blood."
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