I saw this in the theater and really loved it. Read my original review. My opinion of it didn't really change when I watched it a second time on DVD with my wife. The singing grew on me a bit, because I was expecting the overwhelming amount. For fun, here's my favorite song from the film: A Little Priest

I'm not really a fan of musicals; I'll usually watch the Hollywood versions because I watch everything, but it's hard for me to connect with them. I don't really enjoy characters breaking into song and a choreographed dance for no particular reason. But when they're really well done, I tend to have some fun.

I really didn't know anything about Sweeney Todd; embarrassingly enough, my first exposure to it, was in Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl. But from that point, I was looking forward to the eventual Hollywood version. Usually they're happy and light, I wanted to see something dark.

For the making of this film, you really couldn't ask for a more perfect duo of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Burton revels in the dark-side of life and gives the ugliness a unique beauty. And who else could play a homicidal-barber and make him lovable but Depp? He doesn't have a beautiful singing voice, but he gives it a rough-quality, with a smidgen of playfulness.

It was a shock how much singing there is in this film. In most musicals you can count on at least a few minutes between songs, but here they're pretty much back-to-back, non-stop throughout the film. Some of them are darkly-wonderful, mostly those done by Sweeney Todd and his partner Mrs. Lovett. But when the kids sang, I lost a lot of interest. There was a particularly horrible ditty in an annoy ing squeaky voice by Sweeney's daughter Johanna, that I could have done without. And it was creepy how much this actress looks like a young Christina Ricci. (Find another type of girl Tim!)

I guess the young couple was somehow necessary, because they offer the only glimpse of hope in this deeply dark story, but I could have done without them. Sweeney plotting his revenge against Judge Turpin, played deliciously by Alan Rickman, who stole his family and wrongly imprisoned him was the meat of the film. I loved how Sweeney is so angry with the world, that he'll slash anyone's throat unfortunate enough to sit in his barber chair. And it got even more disgustingly beautiful, when he and Mrs. Lovett turn all that extra flesh into the most coveted meat pies in all of London.

Sweeney Todd is exquisitely photographed, I loved the use of the near black and white photography, violently shocked with the reddest of blood-reds, literally spraying everywhere. I don't know if I've ever seen more blood spilled, and I loved every drop. The sets of 19th Century London, had that unique Burton-esque quality. Johnny Depp revels in his role of Sweeney Todd; I really can't imagine another actor in this part. Minus a few lame bits, this is my new favorite musical, and the best Burton film since Ed Wood.

I got to see this wonderful short film at the No Dance Film Festival in 2003 when my own short film eRATicate premiered at Tromadance. I was instantly struck by it's unique blend of Dr. Seuss rhyming and Tim Burton set design. The film has a perfect voice-over from beginning to end; beautiful photography, inventive set and costume design, and a wonderfully dark sense of humor. Writer/Director Peyton Reed has created a classic short.

Now years later, something sparked its memory in my brain, and I instantly had to check YouTube to see if had been uploaded. It was wonderful to see Evelyn again, even if it didn't live up to my first viewing on a big screen with an adoring audience.

It also gave me a chance to look at what Peyton Reed has created since. He's done another short film, called A Tale of Bad Luck, which sounds promising, but I was unable to find anywhere online. Sadly there appears to be no feature film in his near future, I'd love to see what he could do with one. But I did come across a show called What It's Like Being Alone that's only shown in Canada. It's a stop-motion-animated, macabre-comedy about a group of weird little orphan's. I haven't had a chance to watch many of the episodes yet, but I plan on going through them all in the future. Below is the opening of the first show, the rest can be found on YouTube.