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Movie Overview
Cast
Johnny Depp
Helena Bonham-Carter
Alan Rickman
Director
Tim Burton
MPAA Rating
R - for graphic bloody violence
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS
OTHER
(1 - 50) of 59
OFCS Rating: 80% Fresh
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5/5
"As the perfect marriage of maker and material, this dark, disturbing splatter-etta stands as the best film of 2007."
PopMatters
Bill Gibron
"Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham-Carter have made so many films together that they're starting to resemble each other."
Beyond Hollywood
Brian Holcomb
B
"Either audiences will lap up the exaggerated Grand Guignol theatrics with a nervous smile or they'll cower in their seats hoping to switch their tickets to the next available showing of
Enchanted.
"
DVDTalk.com
Brian Orndorf
B
"Outstanding singing performances from its gifted ensemble cast contrast unfavorably with Burton’s trademark affinity for a monochromatic color scheme of white, blue, brown and gray."
ColeSmithey.com
Cole Smithey
"In Toby's story, even more than in Sweeney Todd's, the film observes the evolution of vengeance as ethos, the ways it can come to look like justice, a means to escape "living hells.""
Nitrate Online
Cynthia Fuchs
"Filming a major Broadway musical has always been trouble for moviemakers; none of them seem to work."
Slant Magazine
Dan Callahan
82/100
"The brooding gothic romanticism of the source material plays right into Burton's cinematic wheelhouse."
Apollo Guide
Dan Jardine
5/5
"Pairing his Burton's whimsy with Stephen Sondheim's witty lyrics and lilting melodies makes for a combination as engrossing as it is unlikely."
eFilmCritic.com
Dan Lybarger
A
"Burton delivers a less comic, more appealing
Sweeney Todd
in this Johnny Depp tour-de-force. Frankly, it's bloody great."
EDGE Boston
David Foucher
"The film suffers from a relentless emphasis on bland, thoroughly forgettable musical numbers whose sameness inevitably lends the proceedings a distinctly oppressive quality."
Reel Film Reviews
David Nusair
C+
"Isn't cannibalism and the slitting of throats a hoot!"
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Dennis Schwartz
3.5/4
"It is rare for a film to achieve a feeling of unequivocal, breathtaking transcendence, but
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
does just that."
DustinPutman.com
Dustin Putman
A
"If there were a cinematic version of a harmonic convergence, it would look something like "Sweeney Todd.""
FilmJerk.com
Edward Havens
2/5
"Un musical soporífero y sangriento que parecía ideal para la macabra imaginación de Tim Burton, pero que resulta una verdadera decepción."
Uruguay Total
Enrique Buchichio
A
"A fantastically haunting tale, a nightmare musical ... that's gripping from the first minor chord on the organ to the bloody, inevitable resolution."
EricDSnider.com
Eric D. Snider
2.5/4
"Should have been a standing triple for Burton to hit off the wall instead of hitting it head-on until the guignol nature became less than grand."
eFilmCritic.com
Erik Childress
B+
"The sub-par singing detracts from the film, as it must. Then again, the whole point is that Tim Burton is smart enough not to make
Sweeney Todd
about the songs."
Film Blather
Eugene Novikov
"Elevates a rollicking gorefest into a dark work of art"
CinePassion
Fernando F. Croce
A-
"Bloody good, a lusciously Grand Guignol excercise that's true to the composer's original vision but spectacularly cinematic as well."
One Guy's Opinion
Frank Swietek
74/100
"The imagery, music, and intoxicating blend of vengeance and madness--with just a smidgen of Priest; you'll see, if you don't already know--will linger long after you leave the theater."
Film and Felt
Gabe Leibowitz
A-
"What a terribly impolite Christmas movie."
Cinepinion
Henry Stewart
2.5/4
"In the end, the real problem with the
Demon Barber of Fleet Street
is that he's not as bloody fun as he should be."
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
3.5/5
"It may be too much for some, but for those who can appreciate the tastefully tasteless, it’s a feverish jolt to the senses to see such beautiful music and pathos paired with such horrid images."
Q Network Film Desk
James Kendrick
2/4
"Revenge is a dish best served cold, exactly how I was left after watching Helena Bonham Carter butcher a cheeky star turn in Tim Burton's cutthroat musical."
Palo Alto Weekly
Jeanne Aufmuth
8/10
"It's as if Stephen Sondheim's musical was meant to be a Tim Burton movie all along."
Window to the Movies
Jeffrey Chen
7/10
"While certainly not for all viewers, and even if it takes a bit to gain viewer engagement and traction, the film turns out to be, pardon the obligatory pun, fairly bloody fun."
Screen It!
Jim Judy
5/10
"I was bored out of my skull during many a scene in this film, and wouldn’t dare recommend it to anyone who, like me, doesn’t like old fashioned musicals."
JoBlo's Movie Emporium
JoBlo
6/10
"There is much to like in Burton's
Sweeney Todd
and much not to like, a rather hit-and-miss affair."
DVDTown.com
John J. Puccio
"From the movie's opening organ blast to the pieta with which it ends, 'Sweeney Todd' is a formally precise artwork about vice washing away virtue."
ReelTalk Movie Reviews
John P. McCarthy
3.5/5
"H panemorfi apeikonisi toy heiroteroy Londinoy tis istorias toy ap' ton Tim Burton, ap' to ena mati mpainei ki ap' to allo bgainei, prosferontas mpoliki ikanopoiisi tin ora poy ksediplonetai, alla elahista na pareis mazi soy ekso ap' tin aithoysa."
Movies for the Masses
Joseph Proimakis
4.5/5
"Musical-haters don't have to endure glorious kicklines (Hairspray) and opera lovers can focus on the leads' close-ups. If someone sees the movie and then goes to see a stage production, the enormity of this play will blow their brains open."
Cinerina
Karina Montgomery
3.5/4.0
"Murder, music, and monsters happily drenched in blood."
MovieCrypt.com
Kevin A. Ranson
4/5
"... Burton and Depp put their stamp on Sweeney Todd, bringing the Demon Barber of Fleet Street to life for a whole new audience."
Cinematical
Kim Voynar
A
"Here comes a Christmas musical that is not trying to warm the heart as much as rip it out while it's still beating.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
is bloody perfect."
Reeling Reviews
Laura Clifford
3.5/4
"Tim Burton's grand guignol fantasy transforms Stephen Sondheim's 1979 musical-theater piece into a cheerfully gothic morality tale."
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Maitland McDonagh
2/4
"The material, a Gothic yarn of bloody revenge, seems specially suited for the macabre hand of Tim Burton, but alas, such is not the case."
Mark Reviews Movies
Mark Dujsik
7/10
"This version glories in the gory. Depp's singing limitations rob the character of Sweeney of his all-important contagious savage fury."
rec.arts.movies.reviews
Mark R. Leeper
"[A]ll operatic gruesomeness and cobblestones-and-fog moodiness, [this] is
perfect
. One of the most perfect movies ever, maybe, and sure to be pointed to for forever as the way to do a movie musical right."
Flick Filosopher
MaryAnn Johanson
3/5
"
Sweeney Todd
is exactly the musical Burton fans have wished him to make. It's a bloody mess of vengeance and lost love, full of throat-slitting mayhem."
Bronsonfive
Michael Ferraro
B+
"Working with Johnny Depp, his favorite leading man, and Helena Bonham-Carter, his off- and on-screen muse, Burton creates a vast world of Victorian gothic menace that ideally sets off Stephen Sondheim's grimly intricate lyrics."
Beliefnet
Nell Minow
B
"The perfect marriage of artist and material."
Lessons of Darkness
Nick Schager
4/5
"Resume perfeitamente as principais qualidades e os maiores defeitos de Tim Burton."
Cinema em Cena
Pablo Villaca
4.5/5
"[W]e haven't seen this much hemoglobin in a Johnny Depp film since the infamous blood geyser in
A Nightmare on Elm Street.
"
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
4/5
" Burton's work here is strong and self-assured and never allows the lavish production design to dominate the storytelling."
eFilmCritic.com
Peter Sobczynski
4.5/5
"Depp's staggering performance perfectly merges the story's humour, horror and romance into a serious punch to the gut."
Shadows on the Wall
Rich Cline
5/5
"This black cauldron of a film, with its spider-blood visual scheme, may be the purest example of imagemaking the movies have given us in far too long."
eFilmCritic.com
Rob Gonsalves
B+
"The most accomplished almost-remake of
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
since the passing of the silent era."
Projection Booth
Rob Humanick
B
"It may not be Burton's best film, or his most innovative, but it always stays faithful to his uniquely haunted soul."
Flipside Movie Emporium
Rob Vaux
C
"Similar to watching a movie about cattle being killed and cut up at a slaughter house, but more entertaining."
Laramie Movie Scope
Robert Roten
"Another bizarre and beautiful excursion courtesy of one of Hollywood's most creative minds."
Movie Views
Ryan Cracknell
(1 - 50) of 59
OFCS Rating: 80% Fresh
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