Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp), once Benjamin Barker the barber, is a man with a mission of revenge. He returns to London with vengeance on his mind, having been wrongfully imprisoned some 15 years prior by the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), a man who coveted Benjamin's lovely wife Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly), beautiful young baby and perfect life. He returns on a steamer ship with a young sailor named Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), and when he returns to his former home on Fleet Street, he meets up with old acquaintance Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who runs an unsuccessful pie shop below his former barber shop. Sadly, she makes the "worst pies in London." He finds that he has no life to return to since Lovett tells him his wife poisoned herself after being raped by Turpin and now his daughter, Johanna, is Turpin's ward. Lovett also hid his razors away all those years ago, hoping he'd return one day, and once Todd has them again, he vows to kill Turpin.
When Todd meets up with a former employee, Signor Adolfo Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen), who threatens to expose his true identity, Todd slits his throat in a fit of rage. When Lovett discovers the body, she proposes an evil alliance - his murder victims can provide the much needed meat for her pies. And so it begins...
Todd devises his legendary flipping chair and sets up shop. Mrs. Lovett takes in Toby (Ed Sanders), Pirelli's young apprentice, who begins to suspect Todd of some unsavory activities and vows to protect Mrs. Lovett. Meanwhile, Mrs. Lovett is madly in love with Sweeney and longs for an idyllic life by the sea with Todd and Toby. But this can never be. Anthony, the young sailor, spies a lovely young girl trapped in a stately manor and immediately falls in love with her and she him. It turns out that she is none other than the lovely Johanna, daughter of Todd, and she is being kept apart from everyone by Turpin, who soon decides to marry her to keep her away from boys - for her own good, of course. As this accelerates Sweeney's need for Turpin to die and things really crank into gear. Lovett's pie business is doing a screaming success, what with the body count rising, and the neighbors are complaining about the smell. Beadle (Timothy Spall), Turpin's crony and constant companion ever ready to do his evil bidding, spirits Johanna away to an insane asylum. Toby makes some gruesome discoveries in the baking cellar and soon, everyone is after everyone else and you know there can be no happy endings here.
The acting is amazing. Everyone plays their parts perfectly and each actor does their own singing, which was an amazing feat in and of itself. Some of Sondheim's tunes are very difficult and when you consider this is Depp's first venture as a singer, he is fantastic, as are Rickman and Carter. The actors playing Johanna, Toby and Anthony are fairly new to the scene and they do a fantastic job in thier roles. Everyone worked together as though they had been a team forever. The entire set is mostly devoid of color, save the copious amounts of ultra-red blood, so it really has a shocking effect. There was a lot of CG done in the movie for the backgrounds and some parts of the sets, but it looks wonderful and really immerses you into Sweeney's world. The costumes are beautiful and the entire Todd universe is an amazing place. Leave it to Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter to make Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett dead sexy.
There are a ridiculous number of special features to be found on this 2-Disc Special Edition, including many featurettes covering everything from the sets, the costumes, the making-of, the music and more, but among my favorites are the press conference with Burton, Depp, Carter, Spall and Zanuck, where they really let their hair down, and also the behind the scenes collaboration of Burton, Depp and Carter. It's great stuff. History buffs will also appreciate the featurettes that tell the tale of the Demon Barber as it has come down through history, along with a featurette on the French theater of horror called the Grand Guignol.
I can't gush enough about this movie. The script, the music, the acting, the sets and costumes all merge to create a genius piece of work. Tim Burton and crew have outdone themselves. Unless you are squeamish, this is must-see stuff. I have seen it once and plan to view it again with friends this week. It's one to buy since you will want to see it over and over.
