Sweeney Todd

Please know two things prior to seeing Sweeney Todd, starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman. First, this is a cinematic adaptation of the 1979 musical of the same name, so, there is very little dialogue that is not sung. Second, there is a lot of squirting blood. And, by a lot, I mean "a lot."

With that said, it is a fabulous adaptation. I did not think that Burton and Depp would pull it off. And Burton has embedded his own visual style into the story and it works.

The movie opens with Todd's return to London after being imprisoned in Australia by the local Judge Turpin. Turpin, it is told, desired to have Todd's wife, Lucy. With Todd out of the picture, Turpin could seduce Lucy. However, even that goes wrong, and Lucy commits suicide by taking arsenic. Todd discovers that Turpin has taken his daughter, Johanna, as his ward. But, Turpin's true motives are less than noble. Todd determines to take revenge by slitting the judge's throat with a straight razor.

What makes Todd interesting is the juxtaposition of the beautiful music and songs with the horror of what is occurring on screen. In the same manner, Burton uses a grey palette and the actors wear heavy makeup with deep circles under the eyes. There is very little color, so when Sacha Baron Cohen's character appears, all in royal blue, the contrast is striking. Indeed, there is a song where the characters are taken out of London and placed by the sea. Their clothes change appropriately, but the deadness of their makeup never does.

The movie does not wrap up Johanna's story, but I am not sure if anyone else noticed that. It bugged me a little bit because I had seen this musical performed by a talented group at Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach this year. The amount of blood was startling. But what do you expect from Burton? I remember watching "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and thinking, how many ways can a man be decapitated?

I was already of fan of the musical and I think that it worked extremely well on the big screen. The biggest surprise for me was that Johnny Depp could sing!