A Pinoy Blog About Nothing

Idiotic dads notwithstanding, Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd was an enjoyable movie-going experience. I’ve heard of the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical but movies are a different art form altogether. Broadway plays transitioning to movies are spotty at best and a horror/musical may be, uhm, a stab in the dark but Burton actually pulls it off.

Perhaps at the hands of a lesser accomplished director, Sweeney Todd might have been painful to watch. Burton tempers his usually quirky vision and focuses on the performances rather than on the set design. That’s not saying the movie doesn’t look good. Burton imagines a gorgeous, stylized rendition of a London in which either the dark smoke from the chimneys of the industrial revolution cast shadows on the city or its the heavy clouds continually threatening to soak its denizens into further misery. It’s definitely not Charlie & the Chocolate Factory or Beetlejuice but there’s no mistaking Burton’s fingerprints all over the movie. Todd even goes on to wear a striped bathing suit!

Burton’s constant collaborator, Johnny Depp, tries to distance himself to Jack Sparrow and delivers a believable Todd. While Captain Jack’s a devil-may-care pirate, Sweeney Todd is a brooding man returning from exile hell bent on extracting revenge from the judge (Alan Rickman) who took away his wife and daughter. And did I mention it’s a musical? While he’s no Pavarotti, Depp doesn’t embarrass himself, that’s for sure.

Another Burton cohort (his real life wife, actually) Helena Bonham Carter also pulls off a haunting Mrs. Lovett, the baker. Bonham Carter seems like she was having fun portraying a character that’s both humorous and scary at the same time. This is probably what her Marla Singer in Fight Club character grew up to be - domesticated, maternal, but still nuts.

Sacha Baron Cohen, better known as Ali G and of late, Borat, steals every scene as Signor Adolfo Pirelli, a rival barber in London. Since the movie is not called Adolfo Pirelli: Flamboyant Italian Barber of Fleet Street, it doesn’t take a genius to guess what happens to him. Again, Burton coaxes a great performance from Cohen showing a different side of the actor.

I’m glad too that Burton decided to take time unfolding the story. At 1 hour and 57 minutes, it’s a bit longer than the average movie. However, Burton manages to draw in the audience and hold their interest until the credits roll. That’s a mean feat considering that a) it has graphic mutilations, and b) it’s a musical featuring lead actors you don’t usually associate with a musicals.

I’m not sure that this will be another Holiday movie like Nightmare Before Christmas but it’s definitely one of Burton’s better work. It definitely deserves all the accolades it is getting from critics and the general public alike. I’m definitely recommending it to be seen on the big-screen to appreciate the work Burton has placed on a big canvas. (Look out for the picnic scene. It’s hilarious.)