Sweeney Todd: A Review

I was excited to see Sweeney Todd because of all the buzz and nominations. I finally got around to it yesterday. I'm going to be honest, the first 20 minutes or so were hard to get through. I don't know if it was because it was so weird to see those specific actors belting out tunes or because every time I forgot it was a musical, there would be another song. All I know is that every time they started singing, it felt really inappropriate and awkward. Around the time little Toby (played by the adorable Ed Sanders) got on screen for the first time, I felt a little better because he's just so cute. This was also the first musical number that wasn't so moody and dark. Not that I didn't appreciate the moody and the dark because I did. It just took a bit of getting used to. But by the time Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter started singing and dancing about putting dead people into meat pies, I was sold. The rest of the movie was just as delightfully dark and comical. It was a great story with several unexpected turns that had me thinking "I should have seen this coming." It was well written and well filmed, with an extraordinary cast. I applaud the leads, Depp and Carter, for taking such a cinematic risk. Both of them are on my list of best actors of all time and this movie is one of the reasons why. Another great casting was the always great, Alan Rickman, who can seamlessly portray the creepy, perverted Judge Turpin. Interestingly, for Harry Potter fans, his faithful sidekick Beadle, was played by Timothy Spall, the Wormtail to Rickman's Snape in the Harry Potter franchise. Spall is one guy that I would love to see cast in a likeable role. He's a good actor, but he plays the same ratty little evil minion in every movie.  But he was great along with everyone else. Even Sacha Baron Cohen (who I hate with a fiery passion) was enjoyable. And who knew Borat could sing? In conclusion, go see it.  It certainly deserves all the buzz it's been getting. It has something for everyone, if you don't mind a little throat slitting here and there. Do you think it's wrong that seeing it put me in the mood for a meat empanada? Whatever, it was delicious and at least there were no lawyers or priests in mine.