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| Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [2007] | ![Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street [2007]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dAILiRq1L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | List Price: £23.99
Buy New: £12.98
You Save: £11.01 (46%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 39 reviews)
Sales Rank: 16
Category: DVD
Actors: Johnny Depp, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham-carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall
Director: Tim Burton
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Studio: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Label: Warner Home Video
Format: Box Set, Pal
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Media: DVD
Running Time: 116 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
EAN: 7321902211756
ASIN: B0012YG7R8
Release Date: May 19, 2008 (In 5 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet released
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Amazon.co.uk Review
After years of rumours, 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 humour 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 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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| Customer Reviews: Read 34 more reviews...
 Great film!!!! May 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Omg!!! I went to see this film as soon as it came out and i thought it was excellent. the way thewhole film was created was just brill.
The good thing is, is that there isn't too much singing or too much acting vice versa.
Johnny Depp's performance was just one of his best i mean come on he sang!!! and really well too. Its like you could hear his voice so you know it was him singing.
Helena was great at playing Mrs. Lovett too, she bought something to the character i just cant put my finger on lol.
Overall a great film, loved the blood nice and gory just how it should be and they weren't afraid of blocking the gory bits out.
Can't wait till it comes out on DVD i will be buying it lol
Tim Burton's greatest film to date...a masterpiece. May 2, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've been a fan of Tim Burton's ever since he weaved his dark visions on the silver screen with the likes of Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands. Whilst those aforementioned gems delighted with their darkly surreal undertones, this film goes just for the purely darkly, with a heavy dose of melancholy through in for good measure.
Amongst my favourite scenes are the scenes where Depp (who nails the tortured soul gig to perfection!) and the equally adept Helena Bonham Carter share screen time in missus Muffet's mislead fantasies of a strangely hyper-real fairy-tale sort of happy-ever-after love life; the post-production team adding enhancements of colour to the scenes to give them a surreal, living-portrait feel of a life that could never be.
Other great moments of cinematic genius include a duet between Alan Rickman and Johnny Depp singing the almost homo-erotic 'pretty women', juxtaposed with a sadistic montage of Todd's throat-cutting antics - bodies dropping down in to the basement in a variety of exotic and painfully graphic ways.
The ending (which I will not spoil for you, don't worry!) is a joy (or even , pain) to behold and has to rank amongst the most striking end scenes in recent memories, rivers of red dropping like tears from Depp's forsaken alter-ego. A contemporary masterpiece, and the greatest musical adaptation since West Side Story!
10/10
The most complete film musical? April 25, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Burton has in Sweeney Todd pulled off a masterstroke. Sweeney Todd in this incarnation is probably the finest adaptation of a stage musical ever made. Everything, from the sets, costumes and design, through to the orchestration and casting are as near perfect as one could ask. The changes to the original, disposing of the stage Chorus etc, only goes to reinforce the drama.
This is without doubt Burton's greatest achievement in the cinema and Depp's finest 2 hours on screen. Astonishing.
 could have been a great film,but............................... April 7, 2008
1 out of 33 found this review helpful
I sat down and looked forward to this film.It creates a great atmosphere and is superbly shot.Johnny Depp looking like a corpse brought back from the dead creates an evil air of mystery.Almost all the dialogue is badly sung and as we approached the twenty minute mark,we gave up.Quite simply,spoken dialogue would have made this a film you would talk about for years,as it is,i couldn't watch another minute! A fantastic opportunity missed.
Burton and Depp, a class act! April 7, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Yet again Tim Burton and Johnny Depp combine to bring us something different and it really is marvellous!
I was already familiar with the musical but did not know what to expect from a film version.
It looks wonderful and I loved the look of the dirty, damp and dark streets of London. It's a far cry from the more cosy world of some Victorian London based musicals. The sets were lit so beautifully which helped to create what must surely be a more accurate picture of life in seedy London.
Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are superb and Timothy Spall, Alan Rickman and Sacha Baron Cohen turn in great support too.
Yes it is gory, there's lots of blood and it deserves the 18 cert. but if you know the story of Todd already then that should not suprise you.
Care for some pie anyone?
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