FilmEdge.net reviews SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

Tim Burton has become the cinematic Mother Goose of the modern era.  His films, both animated and live-action, are simple tales heavily embroidered with visual riches.  Burton is as adept with original stories as well as adapted material; stamping them both with his inimitable fantastic and almost surrealistic style. His latest offering, SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, is adapted from the wildly successful Broadway dark musical of the same name.  It’s Burton’s sixth film with his favorite actor Johnny Depp in the title role and his fourth with his long-time partner Helena Bonham Carter.  The story seems to be custom-made for the classic creepy and darkly witty Burton treatment; the leading roles are very well suited to their actors, and vice-versa.  So what went so horribly wrong here? The original Broadway score by Stephen Sondheim is musically luxurious.  Burton has sliced the score to bare bones, ostensibly to make the film less theatrical and more cinematic.  The result is anemic music crossed with a heavy-handed slasher film, packed with clichés ripped from other Burton movies.  The audience is left confused and unsatisfied.  Even the plot twisted-ending is so predictable and hackneyed that we simply do not care that Sweeney Todd has become a victim of his own single-minded vengeance.

The story of Benjamin Barker, who takes the name Sweeney Todd after being wrongly imprisoned for 15 years, is set in Victorian England.  The story is very old, and was quite sensational when it first appeared in print in the 1840’s.  Although many believed (and some still do!) that the story is based in fact, the legend of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street was an urban legend of its day.  The tale is a gruesome one.  Sweeney Todd returns to his old Fleet Street neighborhood to exact revenge on Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) who imprisoned him, drove his wife to poison herself, and took Todd’s daughter as his ward.  His former neighbor, Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter) still lives in the same storefront, selling meat pies.  She welcomes Todd home, offers him his old flat back, and hopes for romance.  Sweeney opens a barber shop, hoping to attract Judge Turpin with his tonsorial skill, have his vengeance, and reclaim his daughter.  While Sweeney hones his skills with a razor, his customers disappear, and Mrs. Lovett’s meat-pie business mysteriously booms.  There is a comic bit provided by Signor Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen), an Italian barber working the marketplace and his young assistant Toby (Ed Sanders).  When Pirelli vanishes, Mrs. Lovett takes in Toby, who unwittingly becomes an accomplice to the grisly business. 

What is most remarkable about this cinematic stumble is what Burton chose not to do.  The Victorian London setting had the potential to become a visual candy store with alleys and crannies to explore, packed with intriguing characters.  Instead, Burton’s film takes place almost entirely in single dingy rooms or featureless narrow alleyways that seem plucked from a theater set.  In his attempt to make the film “filmier” than the stage play, Burton has made it smaller.  The cityscapes and costumes are also dingy and gray.  We are introduced to Dickensian characters that seem to float about without connecting to anything — interesting at first glance, but insubstantial and unengaging. The young hero Andrew, played by Jamie Campbell Bower, shows a singular lack of presence, nearly fading into the background of all of his scenes.  And Sweeney Todd’s daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisener), is an odd-looking waif who spends her few scenes looking lost and confused.  These are unattractive characters and they are also uninspiring.

Look for Burton trademarks all over the place:  blades (in this case, razors), a Rube Goldberg-esque mechanical gadget, long, lean silhouettes and overly-detailed costuming.  For some reason only some of the characters rate the trademark Burton big-hollow-eye-makeup treatment, which is distracting. The audience is left wondering why some characters seem plucked from a graphic novel, some from a high-school play, and others seem transplanted from other Burton films. There’s also lots of window-gazing, which we’ve come to expect from Burton as well. What’s new on the plate is the gore.  The story is certainly a bloody one, but is there any reason for an up-close blood-pumper shot every time Sweeney wields his razor?  The impossibly red blood on the sepia background tones is shocking the first time; effective the second time, and unnecessary the third, fourth, and fifth.

Musicals are tricky to film.  The music must advance the plot as well as give insight into the motivations of the characters.  There must be a seamless integration between sung and spoken word.  When done well — and Sondheim is inarguably the modern master — the lyrics become more than dialog set to music.  Depp’s voice is surprisingly good, but his delivery is flat and uninspired.  The music touches neither him nor us.  Bonham Carter shines when she’s rollicking through a rowdier number like “The Worst Pies in London,” but the lullaby “Not While I’m Around,” falls totally flat, lacking any pretense of sweet maternal assurance.   Young Ed Sanders as Toby steals the show during his songs, as kids in musicals often do.  All he’s missing is a puppy. Perhaps the most famous song from the stage musical, “Pretty Women,” is performed in duet by Depp and Rickman with what can only be described as lassitude. 

Die-hard Tim Burton fans might enjoy SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET.  The film is unmistakably a Burton effort and he takes great pains to remind us that it’s his throughout.  But if you’re looking for a classic big musical on the big screen, unfortunately this isn’t it.  Stick with the original soundtrack and wait for Sweeney’s DVD release.  Two stars for this clunker.