Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

After watching “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, I couldn’t help but wonder why. Why make this particular Broadway play into a movie? After all, it is essentially a slasher movie and the music is certainly not memorable. Benjamin Barker (Depp) is framed and deported by the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who covets Barker’s wife. When Barker returns to London after 15 years of imprisonment, he discovers that his wife committed suicide and his daughter is Turpin’s ward. Taking the name Sweeney Todd, Barker vows revenge and his accomplice is Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who owns a bakeshop under Todd’s former residence. Soon Sweeney Todd is open for business and his victims become the meat for Mrs. Lovett’s pies. Burton’s London, filmed in desaturated color, is full of shadows and horror and Depp and Bonham Carter, looking like walking corpses, resemble characters from another of Burton’s movies, “The Corpse Bride.” That Burton trusts Depp’s acting skill is evident in a script that calls for more expression and fewer spoken words. And although Depp and Bonham Carter do their own singing, neither their voices nor the songs have any memorable impact. It’s hard to recommend this movie, full of serial murders and cannibalism, even if it is based on an award-winning play. (12/31/07)