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Sweeney Todd: (Tim Burton + Johnny Depp) - Quirkiness

Second Chances #2

By Adam WallacePublished 7 years ago 4 min read
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Hello, and welcome back to Second Chances, the column where I take another look at a maligned or forgotten piece of pop culture.

People have come to expect certain things whenever Johnny Depp and Tim Burton come together on a project. They always seem to bring out a quirkiness in each other that they don't often show separately. Benny & Joon is the weirdest Johnny Depp got without Tim Burton, and even Tim Burton dialed it back significantly without Depp since Edward Scissorhands. In fact, the only time they both cut the quirkiness together was when they put Stephen Sondheim's classic musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street on the screen in 2007. Even though it was a complete departure from their norm, it was also their strongest collaboration since Ed Wood.

The film adaptation of Sweeney Todd was a critical darling, but it barely profited at the box office. Based on comments I read, most of the complaints came from two groups of people. One group were horror fans turned off by the fact that it was a musical, and I can understand their irritation. The official trailer gave almost no indication that it was; it made it look like an ordinary slasher flick. The other group were fans of the stage musical incensed at the cuts made to the movie, most especially the choral singing and the opening number. There were various other grievances, but I'll address them as I go.

The story is about a prominent barber who became a victim of a corrupt London judge. Seeing and wanting his lovely wife and daughter, Judge Turpin locked the barber Benjamin Barker away on trumped up charges just to steal his family. After 15 years, Barker escaped and returned to London using the alias of Sweeney Todd. He learns from Mrs. Lovett, the piemaker downstairs from his old home, that Turpin raped his wife, causing her to down a bottle of arsenic and took his daughter Johanna for his own. Vowing vengeance on Turpin and society as a whole, Todd and Lovett join forces to go on a murder spree where the victims get fed to others. Yummy!

Fans of the stage musical were largely unimpressed by the musical performances on display here, but I think they worked in the context of the film. The stage versions were more manic and insane, and they called for strong, belting Broadway voices. The film was going more for a subdued appearance; belting the songs would've clashed with that. It's clear that Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Alan Rickman weren't strong singers, but their voices were decent and fit the tone Burton was going for. I actually loved the "A Little Priest" number between Depp and Carter, a deranged little waltz about picking ingredients for her meat pies. Of course, the "Pretty Women" duet between Depp and Rickman was chilling as hell. Really, the only painful musical performance was from Timothy Spall, but fortunately he only had one song. I was particularly impressed by Ed Sanders who played the kid Toby; he had some amazing pipes!

Tim Burton clearly wanted another excuse to recreate the Hammer horror look like he did with Sleepy Hollow, and it definitely worked wonders here. With the exception of Lovett's fantasy sequence in the middle of the film which exploded with bright colors, the bulk of the movie had a very muted appearance. It worked well with the tone he was going for. Of course, keeping with the Hammer aesthetic, the blood was bright red and sprayed like crazy! I was left wanting to laugh and puke at the same time! In fact, the unrealistic blood spray actually somewhat clashed with how grisly the multiple throat slittings were. Likewise, Lovett's final fate looked ridiculous, clashing terribly with the grim ending. (No, I'm not spoiling it; go watch it yourself.)

There are a couple of good reasons why Depp and Burton didn't bring their trademark weirdness to Sweeney Todd. The biggest is that it would've been completely unnecessary. Despite how grim a play about murder and cannibalism can be, Sweeney Todd's script is loaded with dark comedy like the aforementioned "A Little Priest" number which is full of clever puns. If Depp and Burton added their usual shtick, it would've been overkill. The only silly character was the rival barber Pirelli played by Sacha Baron Cohen, and even he dialed it back significantly for the sake of the story. Restraint is a good look for the normally outlandish Cohen.

Sweeney Todd left me with the kind of mixed emotions that I had when I saw A Clockwork Orange. I found myself laughing one minute and shivering the next. Only the very best films can draw such a wide range of reactions from me. I commend Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. They and the rest of the cast and crew stayed as true as possible to the spirit of the show while ensuring the movie can stand on its own. Sure, it doesn't reach the three-hour mark of the stage productions, and it isn't as insane as those. However, the film worked on its own terms. Even if you're not into musicals, give it a stab!

Let me know if there are other movies that deserve a spot on Second Chances! Take care!

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About the Creator

Adam Wallace

I put up pieces here when I can, mainly about games and movies. I'm also writing movies, writing a children's book & hosting the gaming channel "Cool Media" on YouTube! Enjoy & find me on Twitter!

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