Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
I haven’t seen the stage musical this movie is based on, so I can imagine it has a lot more entertainment value. The movie is a nicely produced grim deathfest. Marked by Tim Burton’s characteristic goth sensibilities, it’s nearly continuously unpleasant. Johnny Depp’s demonic barber is hell bent on revenge, and I could imagine going along with him on that journey. But he starts slitting throats indiscriminately while his downstairs neighbor cheerfully recycles the bodies into Mrs. Lovett’s meat pies. There’s a love story on the side, but it’s not developed enough to be very engaging. Understandably, given the subject matter, the songs are not exactly the kind you hum along and tap your feet to. I felt tempted to rewrite the story with songs from “My Fair Lady”. It could start off with the following to the tune of “Wouldn’t it be loverly”:
Sweeney Todd’s coming back to see
Just how sweet revenge can be
He’s been away in jail
He’s Sweeney Todd the barber
Locked away for fifteen years
Parted from his beloved shears
He lost his wife and child
He’s Sweeney Todd the barber
Anyway, I had more fun coming up with those two verses than I did watching the movie.