Sweeney Todd

[thescarletwoman]

So, here comes the unpopular opinion time.

I'm DREADING the release of Sweeney Todd this christmas. Absolutely dreading it.

I don't know when The Trailer was released, but I just saw it today. And I've been weeping since I saw it.

There's dialog. What there hell is dialog doing in Sweeney Todd? The musical is basically an opera, even if Sondheim refuses to apply the name to said show. He looks like, IMO, Edward Scissorhands, only without the scissors. HBC, while I loved her in HP... is no Mrs Lovett. Hell, I don't even care for Patti LuPone as Mrs Lovett to be perfectly honest.

The only good thing about this movie, to be honest, is Alan Rickman.

I lived with this musical for... over a year when I wrote my thesis. It's near and dear to my heart, not only as a pit musician but as a Sondheim fanatic.

It doesn't mean I don't love Johnny Depp. But seriously... he's not Sweeney.

Give me Len Cariou or George Hern ANY day.

And there's no Mrs Lovett but Angela Lansbury.

Comments

[emiime.livejournal.com]

HAH. THANK YOU. I just wrote, like, the exact same post. :D

[ragdoll.livejournal.com]

It definitely looks like Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd featuring songs by Stephen Sondheim rather than a film of the actual show. I suspect the thinking behind it is that your average viewing audience couldn't sit through 2 hours of an actual opera(etta) so they had to put in dialogue to explain things.

It sounds like Jack Sparrow AS Sweeney Todd, to be honest. And when you're Helena Bonham Carter AND the director's wife/girlfriend/paramour/whatever she is, you get to be Mrs. Lovett, no questions asked. *sigh*

The only thing I can say in defence is "At least Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd is still better than John Travolta as Edna Turnblad".

[avengangle.livejournal.com]

But people sat through Evita and that has, what, two lines of dialogue total? Then why couldn't we deal with Sweeney Todd?!?

Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett? Er? Hello, miscast.

Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury = love.

I'm afraid to watch the trailer.

[meleth.livejournal.com]

The story was around before Sondheim made a musical of it; there's nothing that says Sweeney Todd has to have music. Adaptation of Sondheim, yes it is, but adaptation do tend to change things a bit.

[niko-hime.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry it doesn't look good to you. I can certainly understand being close to something (book, play, etc) and then having a film version of that not meeting your expectations.

That being said, Mr Sondheim himself has said that he does like what they've done here, that he understands that they're only making it an hour and 45 minutes (I say wtf, couldn't they have made it longer, if only to give us more of Tim's awesome visuals and kept more of the original score) and that they did what they could and did it well enough. *shrug* Not that that is any reason for anyone to say "Since the creator of the musical likes it, you should too". Just... sayin' :D

[irish279.livejournal.com]

And there's no Mrs Lovett but Angela Lansbury.

Precisely. Sigh.

[jadis31.livejournal.com]

When I first heard about this, I was worried. I love Tim Burton like it's my job. But I just KNEW this was going to end up a whole lot of him and only a little of Sondheim - Huge and dark and beautiful sets, surreal costumes and everything so far over the top that, although it will be fun to watch, won't have any of the real power the show could have if done true. My problems aren't with the casting, but with the entire concept Burton chose for the movie. I would have rather seen a film version more on the lines of the 2005 minimalist revival than this.

But don't get me wrong, I'm still going to watch it. I'm probably going to enjoy it. I'm certainly going to make an ass of myself singing along in the movie theatre. I'm just not going to love it the way I love the show, the way I could have loved the movie if it had been taken in another direction.

As for casting, I just really hope that the kid playing Toby lives up to my standards. I love that character way too much to see him done poorly.