December 27, 2007

MOVIES: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Tim Burton, 2007)

I confess that I was not optimistic as I walked into the theater. Sweeney Todd is not an easy musical, and with most of the key roles filled with non-singers, I dreaded the outcome. But I was pleasantly surprised (with one glaring exception, which we'll get to); the movie turned out reasonably well.

In the title role, Johnny Depp doesn't have a large, theatrical voice, but movies allow for a more intimate sound than live theater, and Depp's voice is adequate to the task. He's also a good enough actor to make up for his vocal shortcomings with a marvelously intense performance. It's a bit one-note -- Burton has chosen to give us a Sweeney who is maniacally obsessed with revenge and anger, and nothing else -- but Depp pulls it off.

You can say much the same for Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall, who play the Judge and the Beadle -- the singing isn't great, but it's redeemed by the acting. The unknowns are generally better singers; Jamie Campbell Bower as Anthony and Edward Sanders as Toby have fine voices (though still movie-sized, not theater-sized). Jayne Wisener as Johanna has a chirpy, pinched, Sarah Brightman-esque soprano; it's a type of voice that I can't stand, though it seems to be increasingly popular these days.

But then there's Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, and it's here that the movie falls painfully short. She's badly cast to begin with; I think Mrs. Lovett should be at least 10-15 years older than Todd. That makes her more credible as the sort of neighborhood gossip/busybody who would know every detail of what had happened to his wife and daughter 15 years ago, and it lends a crucial element of the pathetic (and of comic relief, which is desperately needed in this musical) to her conviction that she and Todd are going to be a happy romantic couple. (Without that element of the pathetic, "By the Sea" isn't nearly as interesting a number.)

But even if you like the idea of a younger Mrs. Lovett, Bonham Carter simply can't sing the role. Her voice is small, even by the more intimate standards of this movie; much of what she sings can't be heard over the orchestra, and it's not just a matter of bad sound mixing. When you can hear her, it's not a pretty voice; it's thin and whiny, and her enunciation is horribly bad. The lyrics of "The Worst Pies in London" vanish in a blur.

The movie looks marvelous. Burton gives us a dank and gloomy London of dark blue and gray; at times, you feel like you're watching a black-and-white movie. The most prominent bursts of color come from the blood of Sweeney's victims, which gushes forth in copious amounts. I found the blood to be so over the top, both in quantity and in brightness, that it almost immediately stopped being disturbing and became a cartoonish special effect, but I suspect that some will it find it too intensely gory.

Sondheim's music sounds marvelous played by a full orchestra (orchestrations are by longtime Sondheim collaborator Jonathan Tunick), and while I did miss hearing "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd," I can understand why it would be less effective in a movie version, and it does serve as a terrific underscore to much of the action.

It's a shame, really; this could have been a great Sweeney Todd, but Helena Bonham Carter is so woefully inadequate that it's only a good one.

No comments: