Well, I went on Saturday to the cinema to watch the film. Going back next Saturday for another viewing, provided the cinema is still showing it.
For those of you who are not familiar with the story: this story is about a villain appearing in various English language works starting in the mid-19th century as a barber and an early example of a serial killer. Wikipedia has an article on the subject. Fifteen years after having been transported to Australia for a crime he did not commit, Todd comes back to London to find his dreams of rebuilding his family life in ruins. Consumed by hatred for the man who wronged him, he goes back into business and plots his revenge. He teams up with Mrs Lowett, the owner of the pie shop downstairs as a means to get rid of the corpses (it being that the price of meat is so high and alternatives are getting harder to come by). I will not go into much more detail if you have never heard of the story, because that might spoil the film when you get round to seeing it.
Yes, it was an excellent film, the songs are so much part of the story that you stop noticing they have launched back into song again. Johnny Depp does an excellent work as Sweeney; Helena Bonham-Carter is a wonderful Mrs Lowett and Alan Rickman does a wonderful Judge Turpin. The support cast is also wonderful, with Sacha Baron Cohen playing a wonderful rival to Mr T in Signor Adolfo Pirellli, and Timothy Spall as Judge Turpin's lackey Beadle Bamford.
Now, the film has shed quite a lot of stuff from the original play by Stephen Sondheim the film was based on, and has also added a few bits here and there. There will be some puritans out there that will be up in arms about this. To them one thing must be said: Mr Sondheim himself approves of the film, Tim Burton (on his interview on Film 2008 with Jonathan Ross, 26/01/08 BBC Two) comments on how the approval of the film by Sondheim was crucial, and he got that. Beyond that he is not worried about the die hard Sondheim fans nitpicking the film. You can find this interview on YouTube, however, whoever put it up there somehow managed to get the video out of sync with the voices, so it makes for difficult viewing.
Do not be mistaken, this is a bloody film, it might be a musical but it is a dark musical. The cinematography is beautiful, the colours are wonderful, it is beautifully shot. And the ending is just perfect.
I can only say that I feel for the people who will have the film dubbed, because they will miss out on all the hard work the actors put into their roles. They will not hear their real singing voices and will not be able to immerse themselves in the film. They will miss on the acting, because they will not be able to hear the inflection and characterization the actors gave their parts in the original film. To all you who will be subjected to this I say: try and get hold of the original film with its original soundtrack and enjoy.
For those of you who are not familiar with the story: this story is about a villain appearing in various English language works starting in the mid-19th century as a barber and an early example of a serial killer. Wikipedia has an article on the subject. Fifteen years after having been transported to Australia for a crime he did not commit, Todd comes back to London to find his dreams of rebuilding his family life in ruins. Consumed by hatred for the man who wronged him, he goes back into business and plots his revenge. He teams up with Mrs Lowett, the owner of the pie shop downstairs as a means to get rid of the corpses (it being that the price of meat is so high and alternatives are getting harder to come by). I will not go into much more detail if you have never heard of the story, because that might spoil the film when you get round to seeing it.
Yes, it was an excellent film, the songs are so much part of the story that you stop noticing they have launched back into song again. Johnny Depp does an excellent work as Sweeney; Helena Bonham-Carter is a wonderful Mrs Lowett and Alan Rickman does a wonderful Judge Turpin. The support cast is also wonderful, with Sacha Baron Cohen playing a wonderful rival to Mr T in Signor Adolfo Pirellli, and Timothy Spall as Judge Turpin's lackey Beadle Bamford.
Now, the film has shed quite a lot of stuff from the original play by Stephen Sondheim the film was based on, and has also added a few bits here and there. There will be some puritans out there that will be up in arms about this. To them one thing must be said: Mr Sondheim himself approves of the film, Tim Burton (on his interview on Film 2008 with Jonathan Ross, 26/01/08 BBC Two) comments on how the approval of the film by Sondheim was crucial, and he got that. Beyond that he is not worried about the die hard Sondheim fans nitpicking the film. You can find this interview on YouTube, however, whoever put it up there somehow managed to get the video out of sync with the voices, so it makes for difficult viewing.
Do not be mistaken, this is a bloody film, it might be a musical but it is a dark musical. The cinematography is beautiful, the colours are wonderful, it is beautifully shot. And the ending is just perfect.
I can only say that I feel for the people who will have the film dubbed, because they will miss out on all the hard work the actors put into their roles. They will not hear their real singing voices and will not be able to immerse themselves in the film. They will miss on the acting, because they will not be able to hear the inflection and characterization the actors gave their parts in the original film. To all you who will be subjected to this I say: try and get hold of the original film with its original soundtrack and enjoy.
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