Let me be upfront about two things: it's gory. Much gorier than the stage version. I'm talking B horror movie blood.
Also, I was disappointed in the movie version. Oh, it was well done, but because of the overdone blood and because the singing just isn't what it should be and because a couple of things were lost in translation, I was disappointed.
The acting was superb. Of course it was. Look at the actors--Johnny Depp and Helen Bonham-Carter. Honestly, I think Helen outshined Johnny, and I'm a Depp fan through and through, so it takes a lot for me to say that. Sometimes he seemed more Depp than Todd. But still, excellent, excellent, excellent. The boy who played Tobias--very well done. He was great.
The set was well done--the dreariness contrasted with the blood highlighted the shock of the message.
The singing--well, not so great. Rent and Phantom of the Opera went the road of using singers, even if we didn't know them well as actors (if at all). In fact, Rent used members from the original cast. Because of that, the movie version was as good quality wise as the stage version. In fact, in Rent, it may have been better because you could better understand what was going on. In Sweeney Todd, though, Burton used well-known actors who had to be taught to sing.
They couldn't. Let's be honest.
Often, this doesn't matter. Sondheim (the composer of the music and lyrics for the musical) uses recitativ (music that sounds more like talking than a tune), so for Depp and Bonham-Carter, that works. However, there are a couple of scenes or climaxes within a scene that lose their power because of weak voices.
While for the most part, the movie sticks to the stage version, Burton cut a couple of parts or lines that I was looking forward to. For example, in my favorite song, "Try a Little Priest" where Mrs. Lovett and Todd sing about using the dead bodies in the meat pies (the song is a comedic comentary on classism and different members of society--it's hilarious), they cut one of my favorite lines--Todd: "Do you have any General?" Mrs. Lovett: "With or without his privates?" Come on, that's just funny. But for time's sake, these things had to be cut. I don't like that he did away with the Greek chorus that provides commentary through-out. I think that some of the message might have been lost from that.
It's hard to understand--the point of the movie, the brilliance of the music and lyrics. Sondheim achieved operatic sophistication that unless you understand music, you lose a lot. And the point, it's to shock us, to draw us out of our comfortable, escapist, "By the Sea" lives so that we'll open our eyes to the evil around us. So, yes, it's disturbing. It's meant to be. In the stage version, there are things that Sondheim uses to clue you into this that is lost in the movie version. Burton uses an abundance of blood to shock us. As a non-horror lover in general, I didn't like the blood. But I understand it's point.
Here come the spoilers:
There are three central themes: vindictive revenge, dehumanization, and "dog-eat-dog" world (class conflict, climbing the ladder).
Regarding revenge: it begins with Sweeney wanting revenge on the man (Judge Turpin) who ruined his life. But when Sweeney doesn't get what he wants, he detiorates and his revenge is on the whole of humankind.
"They all deserve to die!" he sings.
Because of his focus on revenge, he loses his life. He abandons his child, unknowingly kills his wife, then has his own throat slashed. Ironically, in the end, while trying to trick Mrs. Lovett, he sings about life being about forgiveness, and then he exacts his revenge on her.
The second theme: dehumanization. This is lost some in the movie. The
set on stage is part prison, part factory, and part cathedral. A
horrific factory whistle shrills at each murder, connecting the murder
to capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. This is absent in the
film. But we do see it between Mrs. Lovett and Todd's relationship.
They use each other to fulfill their own motives rather than truly
working together. Musically, they never really sing together (although
in the movie, sometimes they match where they shouldn't). Their motives
don't match. This is shown best in the "By the Sea" number--which is
very well done in the movie.
Also, Mrs. Lovett's character embodies pragmatism. She accepts murder for practical purposes and self-interest.
Sondheim wants to shock and repulse the audience because in our modern times, we've become indifferent to brutality. We hide from it. Sweeney's excesses are supposed to wake us up to our own insensivitity due to violence in films, television, and real life. It takes a lot to shock us.
My husband said he didn't like it because it's disturbing and evil. There's no redemption. No recognition in the movie that all this is wrong.
Exactly.
Kind of like us.
We don't recognize the evil around us. Sometimes we sweep it under the carpet, like Judge Turpin and his rape of Lucy. Sometimes we pretend it doesn't exist. What's disturbing is how we pretend that this world isn't full of evil, and even worse, that we aren't part of it.
We are part of it.
Okay, one last theme: classism and competition.
"It's man devouring man, my dear,
And who are we to deny it in here?"
The dog-eat-dog world plays out literally as the victims become meat pies. And worse, these meat pies become a novelty, the best pies in London. Everyone wants one.
The movie reminds me of Judges. Gory. No redemption. Humans rent apart from each other and themselves. And it gets worse.
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