Sweeney Todd, le diabolique barbier de Fleet Street

Après avoir revu le film, je dois me tenir sur ma position, avec une note de 3 étoiles. Sweeney Todd n'a tout simplement pas de cœur et une fin spirituelle ne le sauvera pas dans ce sens. La violence est froide et haineuse, elle manque de la poésie féerique de Burton (voir Sleepy Hollow). La décision de Todd de tuer en masse est injustifiée et absurde. Johnny Depp qui chante ne me semble pas être le choix idéal. Les autres acteurs, cependant, sont formidablement castés, avec des décors et une musique excellents. (30/01/2008)

The tasty meat of Burton’s previous films ground to a pulp and flavored with visual spices, which unfortunately lacks the sharpness and surprise of Tim's best films. In the middle of the first a monotonous musical, in the middle of the second finally a captivating portrait of a monster, which, in a liter of blood, sees for a moment a reflection of what it used to be. Excellent Depp and Carter. But for Burton, the film has very little content under the sharpened form. Disappointment of the year, I have no doubt. [7/10] (08/02/2008)

I think the result would have been just as impressive without the overly explicit violence (it doesn't sit well with Burton), but otherwise I'm satisfied. Burton rocks again, with lots of his typical cynicism (here bordering on the absurd) and his unmistakable visual style, things I never get tired of. And while the music is lacking any significant melodic motif to hum along to after the film, it was a fine listen. Just like Depp's singing, which proves that you don’t need to master the range of octaves and intonation flawlessly if you have the "gift to impress" and a pleasant colour of voice, and Johnny fulfils this without fail. But the star here is someone else, the wonderful Bonham-Carter, whose cynically pragmatic Mrs Lovett was delectable. (10/02/2008)

"Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd, his skin was pale and his eye was odd..."... thus begins the stage version of Sweeney. However, like many other songs, you won’t hear this one because it was cut from the movie. Which wouldn’t have mattered. But what Tim Burton gets up to really does matter. You couldn’t even call this copying your own ideas. But you either have to grin and bear it, or join in with his game. In terms of acting, no objections, but in terms of singing, I have a couple. I certainly wouldn’t say that Depp can’t sing (the only one I could claim that about is maybe that tragically ridiculous Spall). He proved on a few occasions that he can handle that discipline too. But the problem is that the role of the close-shaving barber is considered in musical circles to be the most difficult of all. And it can be painfully visible in the result, like it or not. Sometimes it shows a lot. Especially if you have ever seen a professional production of Sweeney. The tragedy of this character lies in the fact that he stands at the beginning of the autumn of his life. Unfortunately, the “whippersnapper" Depp can’t act this convincingly. And that applies to the entire cast, in fact. With the exception of Helena Bonham Carter and some supporting roles. Thanks to insensitive cutting, at the beginning it is a little disjointed, about nothing and almost boring. A change in the wind in favor of quality starts around the song Epiphany about half way through. Then the final twenty minutes drag the musical Burton back into the waters of solid above-average. Only just, but he’s there. (08/02/2008)

Burton's aesthetic of dark sets and faded camera filters got old a long time ago. The promise of live water in the form of musical numbers, however, only adds to the overall withering in the end. Burton is absolutely inept when it comes to the singing performances, lacking any choreography or at least a hint thereof, meaning that both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter try very unsuccessfully, even though they are otherwise really excellent. For two hours I felt a kind of unspoken reverence for the original (even Burton's right-hand man Danny Elfman is nowhere to be found), but to be honest, even Kevin Smith did better in Jersey Girl. (18/02/2008)