Sweeney Todd

So Andy and I finally got a chance to see Sweeney Todd, which we intended to see in the theater, but never got around to. Don’t worry, folks, it didn’t make our WORST MOVIES EVER list by a long shot. But I must say the song lyrics, and the fact that the actors are always singing over each other, got really distracting/annoying/lame after a while. I liked it much better when they stopped singing so much. Let’s just say, it’s no Phantom of the Opera. The characters could have been developed a little more, also, but overall, I think it worked. Stylistically, of course, Tim Burton is a master. No argument there. The costumes, the makeup, the filmography, graphics, etc. were all beautiful. Plot-wise, it had a much better ending than Corpse Bride, so I was pleased with that. I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t seen it.

Overall, I think the only thing that actually bothered me was the singing. All the actors have very nice voices, but the songs didn’t do them any justice, and the songs didn’t improve the feel/emotion/set-up of any given scene. If anything, they detracted from the experience. Musicals are tricky things. You can either do them perfectly where the music seems to fit in so well you hardly notice they’re just randomly breaking into song, but if you do, you hardly care because the songs are just so fantastic (I’d put PotO and My Fair Lady into this category), or the music can be obnoxious (ST).

For that reason, I’m probably going to rate this a three and a half out of five stars, for Pretty Good, Glad I Saw It, Probably Won’t Buy It On DVD.