I finally saw Sweeney Todd
I saw Tim Burton’s movie version of Sweeney Todd today and LOVED LOVED LOVED it. Granted, I have yet to see a Tim Burton film that I didn’t enjoy, and am slowly collecting them all on DVD, but I particularly liked this one.
The movie stayed reasonably true to the original Sondheim show (although I’m sure some theatre purist will argue that point passionately) and I was pleasantly surprised at how well Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter pulled off the singing. I went into the theater somewhat apprehensive, but they did WAY better than I expected, meaning that they are not brilliant vocalists, but it was enjoyable, and in a movie format, it actually makes the characters seem a bit more realistic.
Sweeney looks rather like a cross between Edward Scissorhands and the bride of Frankenstein in this film, but it works, and Johnny Depp made this brooding, vengeful character thoroughly believable. His performance reminded me of someone, it bugged me for the first twenty minutes of the movie, and I just now put my finger on it. Christopher Walken. He didn’t really act or sound like Walken, mind you, but for his spoken lines he used a similar understated delivery with a mad gleam in his eyes… and it was really creepy.
Helena Bonham-Carter was quirky and delightful, as usual, and apparently did her own hair, lol.
And the whole movie just looked wonderful. Gloomy and dismal most of the time, of course, but that’s my idea of wonderful. The mostly monochrome color scheme served a purpose; when throats start getting cut, the crimson of blood fountaining everywhere is all the more shocking. It’s the brightest color on the screen, and your eyes get fixed on it, willingly or not.
And of course, a lot of the movie is funny. Sick, twisted, dark funny, but funny nonetheless. If you’re the sort of person who is capable of snickering at murder and cannibalism, anyway. Which I am.
So is William, the dear old friend I went to the movies with. We hadn’t seen each other in months, and we both have men in our lives who don’t like musicals, so we went to a matinee together. Afterwards, we ate an excessive lunch, during which we dissected the movie, gossiped and caught up in general. I had a nice day, for a change. Thanks, Will.