Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

A very long two hours

Ok, I went in not thinking and hadn't twigged it was a musical, and I loathe musicals, so it was never going to be good for me. But even so, this seems a particularly bad example of the genre. Depp sings like a bad Bowie impersonator (think Phil Cornwell) and the songs are weak. When he and Rickman are singing about pretty women I couldn't restrain my laughter.

My general gripe with musicals is that the songs just get in the way - they don't move the narrative along, so you're just waiting for them to finish and get back to the real film. This is particularly true with this film. But it looks good, and when they're not arseing about with duff songs, it is engaging and enjoyable enough. It's just those songs....

[Highly rated reviewer]

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

I really wanted to like this film, I really did, and from the opening shots of Mr Todd returning home, a bitter, man intent on revenge, the camera swooping throught the filthy, gas lit streets of London, I was all set for a Butonesque feast par excellence, but I forgot it was a musical and Sondheim's masterpiece at that, but if I ever have to hear that twot mincing down the cobbles squawking 'I feel you, Joanna!' again, I will spit. And it never got better, just song after song of utter, musical boredom. And Depp. A triumph of style over content. I never thought that going to the flics could be put on a par with a visit to the dentist, but for me it was a full root canal without anaesthetic.