Areas of Unrest

21 December 2007 - Attend the Tale of Johnny Depp

Attend the tale of Johnny Depp
He's no singer, but not quite a shlep ...

Hmmm, perhaps not. As you might have figured out, I took advantage of early release from work to see Sweeney Todd. It's rare enough for me to see a mainstream movie and especially rare for me to see one right when it comes out, but it is Sondheim. And, actually, Tim Burton directing this made perfect sense to me.

I love the musical and was apprehensive, despite the good reviews. Overall, I thought it was a good job. A lot is changed from the musical. The result is less humorous, e.g. nobody in the admittedly small matinee audience I was in laughed at "A Little Priest," perhaps because the funniest part of it ("Locksmith?") was cut. But it still succeeds in making Sweeney Todd a sympathetic and tragic figure, which is enough to be interesting.

Johnny Depp is clearly not a singer, but I thought he was good in the role. Certainly the key emotional moments (e.g. "Epiphany" and, then, the final realization about Mrs. Lovett) were well-acted. I pretty much always like Alan Rickman and he was fine as Judge Turpin. The scene in which the judge confronts Anthony was particularly strong and added a bit of dark humor. ("You gandered at her. Yes, sir, you gandered.") The real acting delight was Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford. The weak performance was definitely Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett. Her acting is fine, but I found myself wishing they had found somebody to dub her singing as, despite well-publicized coaching, she wasn't up to that.

Yes, there is a lot cut, but there are fewer alterations to the basic story than I had been led to believe from some of the comments I'd read. I was disappointed in how Toby was handled in the final scene, though. Jonathan Tunick's orchestration is effective and many of the cut pieces (notably "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd") do show up in the background music. The thing to do is to think of it as its own work of art and not as a filmed version of the Broadway musical. On it's own, it's a very effective film.