Sweeney Todd...Don't Bother Seeing It

So we started watching Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I lasted about 25 minutes. Despite the eminently watchable Johnny Depp, I was not impressed by the singing or the costumes or the sets. It was like watching a dark video game, where the characters have average voices. It's not a happy story either. That Tim Burton has some gothic imagination. I guess the whole project was just lost on me. So Jon is still watching (but he'll be sleeping in minutes, I predict) and I'm here doing my daily duty.

I must confess, Sweeney Todd is not an appealing story in the first place so no matter what they did with it, it's unlikely I'd have lasted to the end. Basically you have a very unhappy barber, who murders his patrons as he's shaving them. Then he cuts up their bodies and gives the meat to a lady, who makes meat pie out them and sells the pies to the unsuspecting public, which gobbles them up. No thank you. I only gave it a chance because of Johnny Depp. If you want to watch him, go rent Finding Neverland. Or if you've seen it, watch it again. He's beautiful, the story's beautiful, the movie's beautiful.

Speaking of musicals, as I type I'm listening to the soundtrack from the Broadway show Spring Awakening. Now that's singing. We saw Spring Awakening on Broadway last summer. Great story, great performances, great music. Every person who opened their mouth had a fantastic voice. Why didn't Tim Burton recruit some of them for Sweeney Todd?

Still waiting for my muse.....