Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2008)

Collector's Edition 2 Discs DVD

What can I say about this movie?! It's my absolute favorite, and I loved every minute of it. I first saw a trailer for this around Novemberish, and said hmm, THAT'S interesting, I knew next to nothing about it, infact, when I saw the commercial, I thought, "Possible Edward Scissorhands sequel?" That however was a thought that was completely off of what this movie was. So then I patiently awaited for the movie to come to theaters, and when December 25 hit, I waited because of family and such, and went to the theaters the next day to find that it WASN'T THERE! So I kept checking for news on it. Apparently there were some differences to be worked out between the producer and Marcus Theatres(Where I go), however, one day, I skimmed the listings for one of the theaters and saw it listed there. I was in school, and it was all I could do not to fall out of my chair from surprise. THEN, my friend, who was taking me, her car broke down! Well, in the end it all worked out, and I was able to see the movie in theaters, and I WAS BLOWN AWAY! This is a masterpiece if there ever was one, and Johnny Depp does a brilliant job, as he always does.

The director of this movie is of course my favorite director, Tim Burton. Tim Burton's work is always intense and interesting to see, and in this production of Stephen Sondheim's musical, it's shown at it's best! Everything in this movie, from the dark atmosphere to the beautiful singing, is done brilliantly! It's all very cool to see. I always like to see how Burton makes things because he always makes them really interesting, with lots of good visuals and such. The screenplay for this movie is also developed from Stephen Sondheim's musical by John Logan, who also does a brilliant job in this. The two of them team up wonderfully and deliver this intense movie, that in my opinion, should've won more than a Golden Globe! They really did do a wonderful job.

The visuals in this movie are some of the most awesome that I've ever seen in a Tim Burton movie, or any other movie for that matter! I love the overall darkness and depressed feel of this movie, and that's a thing about movies that I've always loved, and then, of course there's the love song, and that's where the whole scenery thing changes(You'll know what I'm talking about), and it still is neat to see. Also, the blood level, whih has never been an issue for me, is at an all time high for a Burton/Depp movie, and that's one of my favorite parts, it's really awesome to see.Another thing visual wise that I really like about this movie is Sweeney's razors. They're really cool looking, all clad in silver and everything. So if you haven't figured this out yet, the movies a visual masterpiece.

The storyline of this movie is one of my favorite topics. It's about REVENGE! It's a really gripping story too, you can't help but feel sorry for Sweeney throughout the movie, no matter how many bad things he does. His whole entire life is a mess, and he was innocent to begin with. A man, a barber even, is wrongfully imprisoned by an evil judge, and sent away because the judge wanted his wife. Well now this man is back, and he has switched his name, and started a gruesome business with his neighbor, at the same time finding out that this judge is really tampering with his life. This is an incredible movie, that I would think is not for the faint of heart. It has a ton of blood, but the overall message is Never Forget, Never Forgive, and what you'll get out of it, is avenging your family! It's gripping, and you're enrapt right from the get-go.

Starring in the title role of this movie is my favorite actor of all time, Johnny Depp. Benjamin Barker is a man who at the epitome of his life had everything, until he was suddenly whisped away to an island, leaving behind his wife and child. When he returns, he finds out that all was not left as it had been. He returns to his old home, which is now run by a woman named Mrs. Lovett who runs a meat pie emporium. She then proceeds to inform him that his wife is dead, poisoned herself after the judge raped her, and the judge now has custody of his daughter, Johanna. Now Barker is out for revenge, and he has now become the barber Sweeney Todd, and is now working above Mrs. Lovett's meat pie shop, and working with her. However, soon the judge slips through his fingers, and he starts a terrible business, killing off his customers to satisfy his lust until he can get to the judge. However, the judge has informed him, that he plans to marry Johanna, now Sweeney's even MORE angry. This is my all time favorite Johnny Depp role. He really delivers an awesome performance, and his facial expressions, those of a man who has lost everything that he once held dear, is done perfectly. He makes for a really creepy character, and he delivers an incredibly convincing and believable performance. He was definitely a PERFECT choice for this role. This was also his first role in a musical that he used his OWN vocals for, and I must say that he is an INCREDIBLE singer, and that also adds to the believability of this movie.

Mrs. Lovett, the caretaker of the Meat Pie shop, is played by one of my favorite actresses, Helena Bonham Carter, who I first saw as Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Mrs. Lovett is the widow of a man she once loved, but now she runs a meat pie shop that gets next to no business, and the reason, as one of her songs suggests, is because she has the worst pies in London. That is until a strange man shows up, whom she recognizes to be Benjamin Barker, an old barber, but when she relays the tradgedy that was caused by the judge, he changes his name to Sweeney Todd, and opens up a barbershop above her emporium. Once the judge slips through his fingers though, Mrs. Lovett senses something, and that's when Sweeney decides to start killing his customers, and she knows what to do, she cooks them into her pies, and quite suddenly, she has the best pies in London. Mrs. Lovett also is infatuated with Sweeney, and constantly fawns over him the whole movie. Helena Bonham Carter really has this role down, and she can sing wonderfully as well. She makes this strange and demented character so real, and she makes it a convincing and believable performance. She was another great casting choice for this movie.

Alan Rickman, another actor whom I know from the Harry Potter movies, stars in this movie as Judge Turpin. Judge Turpin is a man who gets what he wants and when he wants, and when he sets his eyes on Benjamin Barker's wife, Lucy, he immediately wants her. He orders the police to take him into custody, and then he has him sent to an island far away from London, but when he makes advances on Barker's wife, she resists, and he invites her to a party, where he rapes her, and then she poisons herself. Now, Turpin is the guardian for Johanna, Lucy and Benjamin Barker's daughter, and when a young sailor sets his eyes on her, he immediately asks for her hand in marriage, and sets about doing that. That's when he meets Sweeney Todd a barber on Fleet Street, and finds that this Barber is in cohorts with the young sailor that the judge is denying Johanna, and the Judge swears never to return. Alan Rickman is another of my all time favorite actors, and in this movie he plays another really bad guy, and he does it wonderfully. He makes such an evil and vicious character so convincing and believable, and it really makes for an excellent villain. He was yet another great casting choice for this movie. He also has really good vocals, which I didn't know he had, and that really helps this movie alot.

Beadle Bamford is played by Timothy Spall, who I also know from Harry Potter, but first saw in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. Beadle Bamford is a sly and greasy cad of a man, and he is also Judge Turpins right hand man. He deals in the affairs of the city, dealing with complaints and such, like the neighborhood watch and such. When one day at a bazaar in the village square, where Beadle went to see Signor Pirelli, a world renound barber, and barber to the Pope himself, he finds another Barber and sees this barber challenge Pirelli. This barber beat Pirelli by a landslide, and Beadle goes to meet him, and finds that this barber's name is Sweeney Todd, and he assures Todd that he will be there for a shave before the week is out. He then instructs the Judge, that if he wants to look his best, he should go to Todd's for a shave and such. Timothy Spall, whom is another of my favorite actors, does an excellent job in this movie at such a greasy slimeball of a character, and he really delivers an evil performance, as another really good villain. He also has a really good singing voice, though he only has one tiny singing bit, and he makes another convincing and believable villain. ANOTHER, great casting choice for this movie.

Anthony is played by Jamie Campbell Bower. Anthony is a sailor who while out braving the oceans saves an older man from the waters, who was nearly dead. This man he finds to be named Sweeney Todd, and when he drops him in London, Anthony decides to stay there, but as he's looking for a certain park, he looks up into a window and sees the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, and he immediately falls in love. He finds out from a passer by that this woman's name is Johanna, and that the "honorable" Judge Turpin is her guardian, but as he gazes at Johanna, the Judge catches him, and invites him inside, and soon Anthony finds out that this Judge is not at all a good man, and the Judge has him thrown out, and beaten, and threatens that if he ever sees him on the street again, then he will rue the day he was born. Now Anthony must team up with Sweeney Todd, and win Johanna and free her from his evil guardian, but little does he know, Sweeney Todd has no intention of letting him leave with his daughter, Johanna. Jamie Campbell Bower, whom I've never seen in anything else, does an excellent job in this movie, and his singing voice is superb. He really has the character's attitude down to the "T" he has that whole struggling for love look in his eyes, and in his expressions, and he makes this an incredibly convincing and believable. He's yet ANOTHER great casting choice for this movie. There seems to be a pattern going on here.

Johanna Barker is played by Jayne Wisener, whom I also have never seen in anything else. Johanna was a baby when her true father was sent away to the island on false charges, and she was also a baby when Turpin began to take over her family. She was a baby when Turpin raped her mother and then her mother poisoned herself, and all of this bad stuff happened when she was an infant. She has been raised by Judge Turpin for as long as she can remember, and she has been kept close under his eye so that she won't do anything the Judge doesn't want her today, and as she stays caged in her room, kept from the world, she gazes down and catches the eye of a young man outside the window, whom she finds to be a sailor named Anthony, and immediately she, like he, falls in love with him, and immediately tries to get him to save her, but little does she know, the Judge is planning on marrying her. Jayne Wisener does brilliantly in this movie, and she has one of those strong and operatic voices that is really pretty, even if she only has one song. She does excellently at playing such a guarded character, and she has the expressions, both facial and physical, of a woman who wants to break free and join her love and live happilu forever. She really delivers a convincing and believable role.

Ed Sanders, whom I also haven't seen in anything else, stars in this movie as a young boy named Toby. Toby is an apprentice to an evil barber named Signor Pirelli who beats and thrashes him, but one day, after Sweeney Todd beats Pirelli in the shaving contest, they stop at Todd's place for Pirelli to discuss some business, but when Pirelli disappears, he assumes that Pirelli left him for Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett, and he begins to work in Mrs. Lovett's meat pie shop, as well as sweeping and cleaning in Sweeney Todd's shop, but unbeknownst to him, these nice people that took him in, are really demented and twisted beings who kill people and bake them into pies, but as far as they're concerned, the less he knows the better. So Toby goes on thinking everything is fine and well, and he continues to live happily with these twon nice people, helping them with cleaning and anything they ask him to do, in exchange for food, drink, and living quarters. Ed Sanders does an excellent job in this movie as well, and he really has the whole attitude of an oblivious little boy that doesn't think anything is going wrong down, and he makes this character so convincing and believable. He also has a beautiful singing voice, and for such a young boy, it's very powerful. He's ANOTHER great casting choice for this movie.

All in all, if you haven't figured it out, this is the best movie/musical there is out there, and it's so thrilling, and even comical in some points, that it's just awesome to see. It's one of those movies you never tire of watching, and you'll want to see over and over again, and I know that I like to see bad guys made into good guys in the story, and stuff like that, so I can only assume that most other people do(is that conceited? lol!). If you haven't seen this yet, then go ahead and buy it because you will have wished that you hadn't wasted the rental fee. It's an awesome movie, and it's also my favorite movie of all time!!!!!