Lately, I’ve
had a problem with movies that are marketed in such a way that the
studio tries to convince the audience into believing that the film
is something that it is not. Steven Spielberg’s “Dreamworks”
is trying to pull a fast one with the trailers for “Sweeney
Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”, by hiding its true
identity in plain sight. That’s why the commercial plays like
a family reunion for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp; after all, they’ve
made five films together so far, “Edward Scissorshands”
(1990), “Ed Wood” (1994), “Sleepy Hollow” (1999),
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (1995) and “Corpse
Bride” (1995).
Oh, did they mention it’s a musical? They forgot to mention
that, really? If you are well versed in late 1970’s musical
theatre, you would know that Stephen Sondheim penned the successful
Broadway musical based on an old urban legend that has been the
subject of lesser films going back to 1936. If you aren’t,
I guess you will find out after you buy the ticket and the movie
starts.
The reason for failing to mention it is simple. If you say “musical”
people think of films like “Chicago” or “Hairspray”.
Not too long ago, I couldn’t say enough about “Hairspray”,
the cult film turned Broadway Musical, turned mainstream movie.
This time, the formula didn’t work. Trying to get an audience
to “Sweeney Todd” because they liked “Hairspray”
is equal to saying, “if you like Disney Cartoons, you’ll
love “Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2”.” As far as I’m
concerned, Tim Burton used enough fake blood in “Sweeney Todd”
to make the “Kill Bill” Director’s fans a little
squeamish.
Here is a list of things that I cannot say about “Sweeney Todd”.
If you like Johnny Depp, you’ll love “Sweeney Todd”.
If you are a Tim Burton fan, you’ll enjoy “Sweeney Todd”.
If you like Broadway musicals turned into films, this is the show
for you. If you can bring the family to only one film this holiday
season… you get the idea. There are so many things that this
film is not.
That’s what was so hard for me to get past. I wanted to like
this movie. The acting is flawless. Johnny Depp, as the title character,
was wonderful. Helena Bonham Carter, as Mrs. Lovett the pie shop
owner, is simultaneously brilliant and criminally insane. The sets
and the costumes and the art direction all outdo the limits of any
Broadway stage. The score and the lyrics are something only Sondheim
could do. As an overall package, Tim Burton assembled the best-of-the-best
for this Shakespearian-esque tale of love and vengeance.
In that assemblage though, I think we ended up with a bit of a Frankenstein
monster, a good creative idea gone bad. With a recent church shooting
in Colorado and a mall shooting in Nebraska that left a combined
death toll of eleven innocent people, I left the theater feeling
very put off by the hero of this film being vengeful murderer. So,
for me, the sum of the parts left a hole.
