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With its rivers of blood, this adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical isn't for the faint of heart--or stomach. But thanks to the black humor, impeccable production design, and gorgeous music, Tim Burton fans will want to sing after seeing SWEENEY TODD. For his sixth collaboration with the director, Johnny Depp stars as Benjamin Barker aka Sweeney Todd, a barber falsely imprisoned by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). After leaving prison, he comes back to Victorian London to find his wife poisoned and his daughter held captive. As he plots his revenge, Sweeney joins forces with Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), and while he preys on clients asking for a shave, his new partner turns the bodies into baked goods. But the judge still lives, and the razor-wielding madman wants his vengeance.
Though it's a musical, SWEENEY TODD has more in common with Italian horror films such as SUSPIRIA than it does with CHICAGO. Even the horror-musical hybrid LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS pales in comparison to the darkness found here. Previous Burton-Depp pairings have veered toward the macabre, but this reaches a glorious new level. Though they've made excellent films apart, their partnership has produced some of their best work, including EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD, and now SWEENEY TODD. Depp demonstrates his rock-band roots as the antihero of the title with another amazing performance, while Bonham Carter is both hilarious and heartbreaking as the eager Mrs. Lovett. But credit also belongs to production designer Dante Ferretti, director of photography Dariusz Wolski, and, of course, Burton, for showing a sooty London that is just as dark as the film's subject matter. Source composer Sondheim should also be recognized for the haunting songs that threaten to stick in viewers' heads, but the film as a whole also deserves to be remembered for its beauty and brutality.
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"Mr. Burton's film adaptation of Mr. Sondheim's musical, is as dark and terrifying as any motion picture in recent memory....Expressing a breathtakingly, rigorously pessimistic view of human nature. It is also something close to a masterpiece..." - New York Times
"[T]his opulent, attentive production is splashed with signature style and hell-bent on entertaining..." -- Grade: B+ - Entertainment Weekly
3 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he story takes in romance, suspense, melodrama, vengeance and madness along the way....Depp and Bonham Carter present their beating hearts on gore-streaked sleeves." - Total Film
"Tim Burton's adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece SWEENEY TODD is a funny, moody musical blood bath....It's a gorgeous artifact..." - Los Angeles Times
Ranked #5 in Rolling Stone's "10 Best Movies Of 2007" -- "[A] striking achievement in every way, particularly for the tour de force of Johnny Depp..." - Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "Depp is simply stupendous....Depp erases the line between singing and acting, fusing them into something that keeps the movie blazing." - Rolling Stone
4 stars out of 5 -- "The stars make surprisingly fair fists of the singing, and their acting muscles put over Sondheim's intricate, clever lyrics." - Empire
4 stars out of 5 -- [I]t's the giddy, relentless nihilism of the film that will thrill even the most showtune-phobic." - Uncut
"Burton has created a supremely cinematic work, in everything from the swooping, scuttling shots through London's sooty, satanic back alleys, to the wild-eyed vengeful intensity of its anti-hero..." - Sight and Sound
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- Average review for this item:
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"I usually love Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. This was a HUGE disappointment. It started out quite wonderful (I loved the song while he disembarked from the ship), but then it just became cartoonish blood spurting everywhere. Yes, I knew what the story was about, but the amount of blood-spurting was ridiculously over done. I wish I had skipped this movie entirely."
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"I love this movie, and the cast.
I usually don't watch musicals, but I found the plot interesting and with a cast of Sacha Cohen and Johnny Depp it was hard to turn away. It has more, but those two names are what really made me watch.
May be a bit gory and dramatic, but it made me laugh several times with it's dark humor."
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"it was very bloody. litteraly it would show necks being cut open and dead bodies landing on their heads as they fell to the ground.
i watched the whole think just because i wanted to see how it ended but it was pretty gross.
lots of singing and the songs were pretty cool the plot was even pretty good but there was alot of" omg i can't believe they showed that!""
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"This is a damn good movie. You think 'musical' and you wanna run and then you see 'Tim Burton' and you stay. I absolutely love when Tim Burton and Johnny Depp team up. They make a great couple! Helena Bonham-Carter is amazing as usual, too! It's dark and bloody and contains dry humor and I loved it. If you love Tim Burton you have to see this one!"
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"Completely awesome. Well worth the watch, and the casting is pretty much spot on for a Tim Burton does Sondheim. I still like Angela Landsbury better as Mrs. Lovett, but HBC does a lovely job."
1-5 of 38 | 
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| Manufacturer's List Price: $24.53 |
| Run Time: 110 mins. |
| Rank: 242 |
| Purchase this item: Amazon.com |
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