A tour de force screen rendering of Stephen Sondheim's famous stage musical. This begins with an astonishing animated titles sequence then rarely lets up from there. Johnny Depp smoulders and glowers in the rôle of vengeance obsessed Todd, whilst Helena Bonham Carter has probably never been better than she is here as maker of questionable pies, Mrs Lovett. To be fair the rest of the cast are superb too - Rickman, Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen as a conman rival barber, Ed Sanders as the boy taken in by Lovett and Todd - with the exception of the slightly insipid young pair of star crossed lovers, played by Jamie Campbell Bower and Jayne Wisener who are both competent but out of their depth here.
The real star is the production design. A glorious, dark, crowded, Gothic vision of London that you can almost smell. The setting is ideal for Todd and Lovett's nefarious deeds. And nefarious they are! This is quite the most full-blooded musical yet made, with horror and violence to the fore. Sondheim's songs are wonderfully performed by the cast and staged expertly by Burton.
A superb film that I liked greatly.
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