Movie: Sweeney Todd

This is a musical. Since the makers have not highlighted this in the trailer, you might be surprised.

Benjamin Barkin(Johnny Depp) returns to London after many years. He was a successful barber in London and had a family comprising of a beautiful wife and a toddler girl. But a vile Judge Turpin(Alan Rickman) imprisons Benjamin on false charges in order to satisfy his lust for Benjamin’s wife. Now, Benjamin Barkin is returning to London as Sweeney Todd to find his family.

Todd visits his old house. Mrs Nellie Lovett(Helena Bonham Carter) is running a pie shop underneath his old house. Nellie tells Todd about what happened to his family. After being raped by Turpin, Todd’s wife committed suicide. Judge Turpin adopted Todd’s daughter after this incident.

Now, Todd plots Turpin’s murder. He is almost successful but Turpin escapes the first attempt. Angered by Turpin’s escape and persuaded by Nellie’s, Todd starts murdering innocent people. Nellie processes and makes meat pies out of the dead bodies.

Finally, Todd manages to extract his revenge on Turpin. But the story ends in a tragedy.

Tim Burton, master of weird, has directed the movie. Characteristic to his style of filmmaking, this movie is shot with a dark tone. He is successful in giving us some chills in several gory scenes. Some of the gory scenes have been censored on the DVD. This brings in a loss of continuity while watching the movie and a disappointment for the Indian viewer.

Johnny Depp is excellent with his quirky acting and singing. He brings in the high and low notes beautifully with his voice, face and body. Helena Bonham Carter is good as evil Nellie.

If you despise blood on the screen, this is not for you. The movie will not go down well with your dinner.