Friday, December 28, 2007

Sweeney Todd

We decided to ignore the reviews and went to see the movie. All the adults were fans of the play; Rana and I had even been fortunate enough to see it on Broadway with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. We were all also Tim Burton fans.

We left disappointed. The reviews were generally right.

Mind you, none of us regret having seen the film; the visuals alone were worth the price of admission. No one can shoot a grimy street scene like Tim Burton. No one can play mad and brooding like Johnny Depp.

The plot, though, was clipped too far, we all pined for the missing chorus, the blood managed to be both gory and ineffective, with the exception of the young sailor's, none of the other singing voices were up to their material--I could go on, but you get the point.

If you're going to see a lot of films this holiday season, keep Sweeney Todd on your list. If you're having to see only one or two, however, save this one for DVD.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good choice! Jennie and I went to see Sweeney Todd last night in Norfolk, so I'm glad that won't make it hard to pick a movie for tonight.

I enjoyed it more than you did, I think, probably because I never saw it on stage and didn't know what was missing. Even so, I felt like it was a movie more for the benefit of the director than the audience.

Labels

Blog Archive