Location: Home > DVD > Drama > Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Steelbook) [Blu-ray] [2007]

Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Steelbook) [Blu-ray] [2007]

Director: Tim Burton
Actors: Johnny Depp, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham-carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD

List Price: ~~Ł27.99~~
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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

7 reviews
Sales Rank: 659

Format: Widescreen
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Media: Blu-ray
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 112
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6

EAN: 7321900211253
ASIN: B0012YG7RS

Release Date: May 19, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: DVD in perfect condition

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.co.uk Review
After years of rumours, it turns out that Tim Burton was the perfect visionary to film Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Stephen Sondheim's Broadway masterpiece, and the result is a macabre and moving musical movie as enthralling as anything Burton has ever done. The show's mix of gothic horror, Grand Guignol, very dark humor, and witty and beautiful music never was the stuff of traditional musical comedy, but it's a powerful work, and perhaps the richest of the late 20th century. In the movie, Burton's frequent collaborator, Johnny Depp, plays Todd, a wronged man whose lust for revenge drives him to murder (an 19th-century legend who has been traced to a real-life barber). Helena Bonham Carter, another Burton mainstay, is Mrs. Lovett, the barber's partner-in-unspeakable-crime. It's no surprise that Depp is an excellent choice to convey Todd's brooding intensity and volcanic rage, but he can also sing a score that is so challenging it has often played in opera houses (though not with the same style as the Broadway original, Len Cariou, and he occasionally lapses into pop style). Bonham Carter is small of voice and lacks the humour of the original Broadway Lovett, Angela Lansbury, but she sings on pitch, in rhythm, and in character at the same time, which is no small feat for a Sondheim show. Aficionados will regret the loss of certain musical passages--"The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" is just an instrumental overture and the chorus is gone altogether, among others, but the reassuring presence of orchestrator Jonathan Tunick and conductor Paul Gemignani ensures that the music feels right and sounds great. And the film's depiction of a Victorian London hellhole, with cinematography by Dariusz Wolski and costumes by Colleen Atwood, also looks and feels right.

The excellent cast is filled out by Alan Rickman as the villainous Judge Turpin, Timothy Spall as his seedy Beadle, Sacha Baron Cohen as a rival barber, Jamie Campbell Bower as the young lover Anthony, Jayne Wisener as his object of affection, and Ed Sanders as the young Toby. For fans of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp who don't think they like musicals, Sweeney Todd should be a revelation (though not for the squeamish, as the gore is intense and completely appropriate). For fans of Broadway and Sondheim, it's hard to imagine getting a better adaptation than this. The fact that there's no newly composed Oscar-bait song sung by a Josh Groban-type over the end credits only makes it better. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

WHAT IS THE POINT OF GIVING THIS A BAD REVIEW BECAUSE YOU IDIOTS DIDN'T REALISE IT WAS A MUSICAL??????!!!!!??????? June 29, 2008
Jeez Louise people, c'mon!!! Great musical, good film. Highly recommended. Pretty good blu ray transfer too.

1 out of 5 stars

It is definately a musical June 10, 2008
1 out of 7 found this review helpful

I don't know, I saw Johnny Depp was in it, sweeney todd story & that's where I placed it on pre-order for rental, should of looked into it more but it is song after wide mouthed londoner song, terrible, ok if you like that sort of thing but god is it annoying to watch & more to listen to.
If only they had dropped the singing it may of been a decent movie & at least watchable.
Not going to watch anymore, had enough of that, can't bear another bit of it, glad I didn't buy it. What a let down.

4 out of 5 stars

Best Sweeny Todd Worst Mrs Lovett June 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

As a self confessed Sondheim freak, I was privileged to be at the world premiere of Sweeny Todd in NY many years ago and have seen most UK productions and cast changes since, and a few US ones too, and am happy to say I found Johnny Depp possibly the best Sweeney ever. His cold fanaticism and 'dead eye' suit the character perfectly and his singing passes muster too. Helena Bonham Carter looks good (too good?)as Nelly Lovett, but that tiny, tinny voice just won't do after Angela Lansbury, Julia MacKenzie and Pattie Lupone to name just my top three. The over the top performance from Sascha Cohen was fun but Timothy Spall is risking sameness in his playing of period characters. Interesting idea to have a child play Toby but I think I prefer a young tenor in the part. Sondheim's contribution to the extras was also a huge bonus for me.

I know it's a bit pointless to pick up on others comments but how could someone who reads a newspaper or watches TV not know this was a filmed musical? Also, just for the record, on my Sony/Sony combination I have no adverse comments to make on the quality of the Blu Ray transfer, nor did I have a problem with the menus.

2 out of 5 stars

Gory, pretentious and an awful grainy picture June 2, 2008
0 out of 10 found this review helpful

This is one of those idiotic 'star vehicles', where gushing critics fawn like crazy because luminaries like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp are involved, while the rest of us look on bemused, wondering what the hell it is that we're missing.
Set aside the droning music and the ridiculous over-the-top throat-cutting and bodies crunching head-first on to concrete, and what have you got? A lame and predictable story with no real substance, and a feeling at the end of... what exactly? Uplifted? Tearful? Repulsed?
But by far the worst thing about this is the Blu-Ray print. Tim Burton's 'hand of darkness' renders bug sections of this unwatchable - the shadows are all grainy and scractchy, and on several scenes it was like trying to watch what was happening through a net curtain, it really was that bad. I have seen much better quality DVDs on a bog-standard DVD player... why have I spent thousands on Blu-ray if this is the best it can offer?

2 out of 5 stars

It really is a musical May 23, 2008
2 out of 27 found this review helpful

I missed it at the cinema and just gambled on that fact that it's a Tim Burton film before buying this.
I knew it had musical content and would have been happy to handle the odd tune here and there but it's 90-95% music, which I found too hard to handle. I haven't even managed to make it to the end.
To have a magical cast like this and make them sing instead of act is just plain criminal, I'm sorry. I'm gutted.