Sweeney Todd (2007)

The missus and me watched this last night. She played Mrs. Lovett, who in this version was played by Helena Bonham Carter and in earlier version by Angela Lansbury, in high school. (They did excerpts from the show.) And my wife loved this version. Me? I thought it was very good, but definitely not the musicals that I was involved with in high school, “Oklahoma,” “The Music Man,” and, I can’t believe I’m admitting this, “The Pajama Game.” However, I should have known when I saw that this was written by Stephen Sondheim and directed by Tim Burton. I had seen “Into the Woods” on PBS years ago, the version with Bernadette Peters and loved it. It was dark, but whoa, not this dark.

Johnny Depp plays the title character, a.k.a. Benjamin Barker, who returns to London after being in prison for 15 years and sets up a barber shop on Fleet Street. The back story is that he was set up by an evil judge, played brilliantly by the always great inimitable Alan Rickman, who stole away with Barker’s wife and daughter. In short, he returns to get his revenge — but, of course, even though it looks like he might be able to get his revenge early in the movie, it doesn’t happen that way. With the help of Mrs. Lovett, a meat-pie maker who operates a shop below his barber shop, though, he gets his bloody revenge with only gore like Burton can do.

I have to admit my favorite line was spoken by Depp: “At last! My arm is complete!” At the time, he is holding up one of his razors that Mrs. Lovett saved for him. I don’t think that any moviegoer who had seen Depp in Burton’s “Edward Scissorhands” didn’t immediately think of Depp in that role as he uttered those words.

Perhaps the most surprising thing was how well Depp sang in this, and Bonham Carter too. I think the standout singer of the movie, though, was Jamie Campbell Bower, who played Anthony Hope, a character with whom Depp returns via ship to England and who becomes intertwined in the story in other ways later. Bower was in the National Music Youth Theatre in England, I just learned, from Internet Movie Database .

The IMDB review of the movie was 8 out of 10 stars. I’d say that’s pretty close to what I’d give. I might take off another star for the blood, but regardless, it was a movie worth seeing, especially with my wife, who has a beautiful voice, singing along through many of the parts.