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Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Dreamworks Video Product Details |
Product Description
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton join forces again in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical thriller "Sweeney Todd." Depp stars in the title role as a man unjustly sent to prison who vows revenge not only for that cruel punishment but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop Sweeney Todd becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who "shaved the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again." Joining Depp is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett Sweeney's amorous accomplice who creates diabolical meat pies. The cast also includes Alan Rickman who portrays the evil Judge Turpin who sends Sweeney to prison and Timothy Spall as the Judge's wicked associate Beadle Bamford and Sacha Baron Cohen is a rival barber the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli.System Requirements:Running Time: 116 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR/PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER Rating: R UPC: 097363500643 Manufacturer No: 350064
Amazon.com
After years of rumors, it turns out that Tim Burton was the perfect visionary to film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim's Broadway masterpiece, and the result is a macabre and moving musical movie as enthralling as anything Burton has ever done. The show's mix of gothic horror, Grand Guignol, very dark humor, and witty and beautiful music never was the stuff of traditional musical comedy, but it's a powerful work, and perhaps the richest of the late 20th century. In the movie, Burton's frequent collaborator, Johnny Depp, plays Todd, a wronged man whose lust for revenge drives him to murder (an 19th-century legend who has been traced to a real-life barber). Helena Bonham Carter, another Burton mainstay, is Mrs. Lovett, the barber's partner-in-unspeakable-crime. It's no surprise that Depp is an excellent choice to convey Todd's brooding intensity and volcanic rage, but he can also sing a score that is so challenging it has often played in opera houses (though not with the same style as the Broadway original, Len Cariou, and he occasionally lapses into pop style). Bonham Carter is small of voice and lacks the humor of the original Broadway Lovett, Angela Lansbury, but she sings on pitch, in rhythm, and in character at the same time, which is no small feat for a Sondheim show. Aficionados will regret the loss of certain musical passages--"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" is just an instrumental overture and the chorus is gone altogether, among others--but the reassuring presence of orchestrator Jonathan Tunick and conductor Paul Gemignani ensures that the music feels right and sounds great. And the film's depiction of a Victorian London hellhole--with cinematography by Dariusz Wolski and costumes by Colleen Atwood--also looks and feels right. The excellent cast is filled out by Alan Rickman as the villainous Judge Turpin, Timothy Spall as his seedy Beadle, Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) as a rival barber, Jamie Campbell Bower as the young lover Anthony, Jayne Wisener as his object of affection, and Ed Sanders as the young Toby. For fans of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp who don't think they like musicals, Sweeney Todd should be a revelation (though not for the squeamish, as the gore is intense and completely appropriate). For fans of Broadway and Sondheim, it's hard to imagine getting a better adaptation than this. The fact that there's no newly composed Oscar-bait song sung by a Josh Groban-type over the end credits only makes it better. --David Horiuchi
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Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
- DVD: 0 pages (2008-04-01)
- Publisher: Dreamworks Video
- Label: Dreamworks Video
- Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman, Edward Sanders, Timothy Spall
- Director: Tim Burton
- Encoding: Region 1
- Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1,
- Rated: R (Restricted)
- Studio: Dreamworks Video
- DVD Release Date: 2008-04-01
- Run Time: 116
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 318 reviews
- Sales Rank in DVD: #1165
Avg. Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as the Broadway version 2008-08-16
Comment: I suspect that most reviewers who gave this movie five stars have not seen the other version of Sweeney Todd -- the version starring George Hearn and Angela Lansbury. Here:Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Broadway) (Keepcase) or here: Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Broadway) (Snap Case)
The movie sets are terrific, as is the instrumental music and the direction, but neither Johnny Depp nor Helena Bonham Carter can sing as well as Hearn or Lansbury. This is not to say that they are bad, but they just don't measure up to Broadway's demanding standards.
Although I was very much looking forward to getting a newer version of this grisly story, I will stick with my older DVD for the superior voices on it. This new one disappointed me.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating: 
Summary: My most favorite musical ever! 2008-08-16
Comment: I have seen the original many times and was intriuged with the choices of who was chosen for the roles. And I wasn't dissapointed!
Depp sings with and passion and has a gravel that gives him an edge and feeling that is hard to put a finger on. Carter had a sad and more desperate sound to her singing that Angela did.
In fact the whole musical movie was filmed with a more serious note than the original was acted.
I prefer Toby, Anthony, and Johanna in the movie a hundred times over the acted version. Anthony in the play had this stupid grin on his face almost the whole play. He is entirely stupid in the play. Toby also seems dumbed down in the play, and I actually like Burton cutting off the last minutes from the play, with Toby going mad. And Johanna in the movie seems more trapped than the Johanna in the play. In the play she feels clingy and shrill.
The only thing that I do prefer in the play to the movie is Hearn's singing. I said that Depp's performance it good- it is. But Hearn's deep voice is hypnotic and powerful. That is the one thing that Depp lacks.
All in all, this movie is a wonderful adaptation to the play, and I will watch it more than the original.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Johnny Depp is Awesome!!!!! 2008-08-14
Comment: Sweeney Todd is an excellent movie! Johnny Depp is one of my favorite actors and he didn't disappoint in this movie. He is so believably frightening as the demon barber. Tim Burton once again gave us a classic!!!!
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Film If You Love Burton and Depp Together 2008-08-04
Comment: How can you go wrong with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp? Answer: You can't.
First and foremost, you must understand that Sweeney Todd is a musical. Many people don't make this realization before they sit down to watch the film. If you're among them, don't feel bad-you're not alone. However, bear in mind this is a film adaptation of Steven Sondhiem's musical and the vast majority of the movie is pure song.
That being said, while I'm not particularly a fan of musicals, I am a fan of Burton and Deep, Burton, and Depp (in that order). We get the classic gloom and melancholy playfulness we love from Tim Burton, and Depp makes Sweeney Todd his own with emotional glares, terse dialogue, and a stylistically eerie appearance.
And while it was obvious none of the actors were professional singers, I didn't find Depp's singing nearly as distracting as I thought I would. Be aware, though, at times the music itself grates on the nerves.
Perhaps the most pleasant surprise Sweeney Todd offered was the scene-stealing acting and singing of Sacha Baron Cohen. Of Borat fame, the nearly-unrecognizable Cohen dazzles with multiple accents, mesmerizing body movement, and probably the best singing existent within the film.
Burton, as usual, gives us wonderfully morose scenery and costumes. Never a slave to convention, a musical would have been the last endeavor I would have expected him to undertake, but I'm glad he did. It goes a long way to solidifying his versatility, and the fact he did it his own way with tremendous risk in casting only reestablishes my faith in his artistry.
Be aware, however, that had anyone else directed Sweeney Todd, I probably wouldn't have bothered to watch it. If you're a fan of Burton/Depp collaboration or musicals, I think you'll be pleased. If you don't particularly enjoy either, I'd make a point to avoid Sweeney Todd.
~Scott William Foley, author of Dr. Nekros: Phantasms and Chicanery (Volume I, Episode II)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Movie 2008-08-02
Comment: This was a fantastic movie and Johnny Depp was awesome as Benjamin Barker. The only shame was that they cut the main song out of the movie - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street!! As a fan of the musical I am now also a fan of the movie!!
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