Sweeney Todd.... looks like it's going to fail.

[MJ12]

When I first read about it and saw the pictures, I thought it was going to be golden.
Dark humor, johnny deph, tim burton musical= win win right?

But After seeing this trailer... wow, incredible let down.

[youtube]wNjhxNAKKMg[/youtube]


I am really hoping the actual film is good. I am still going to give it a chance.

 

[Absinthe]

I don't know about the trailer, but everything else about this looks damn interesting. I'm not one for musicals at all, really. But I'd like to see how it all plays out what with concept and the actors.

It also has pie.

 

[Zephos]

You don't base movies off movie trailers.

Advertising tends to err... false advertise, manipulate, twist and meld, synonyms etc etc

Looks pretty darn good anyway

 

[Absinthe]

Certainly unique. And yes, I am aware it's an adaptation.

Serial killings and cannibalism? With Depp singing? Not too many films like that. Supposedly it's going to be pretty bloody too, which was kind of shocking to me since I never expected that to be Burton's thing.

 

[Darkside55]

I shall watch it solely for the line, "At last, my arm is complete again!" and the song about vengeance. I'm so about those things.

 

[Absinthe]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/34665

 

[Eejit]

The featurette I saw looked sweet. Seems promising.

 

[Reginald]

Looks awesome. Dunno what OP is barking about. It's one of my most anticipated films for next year. :E

 

[Sedako]

Tim Burton's style never gets old. I'm going to go see this with my girl and enjoy it immensely, just as I did with Sleepy Hollow.

 

[kingkuttar]

It has Johnny Depp in it. Therefore it will not be a bad film! That man is so sexy.

 

[Qhartb]

I love the musical. There's a short list of musicals that I brilliant: Sweeney Todd (and several other Sondheim shows), Les Miserables, Evita, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story. Like movies, maybe 2% are actually substantial and the rest range from crap to wildly entertaining but not terribly engaging. As a show, Sweeney's up there with the greats.

Knowing where the lines in the trailer are found in the show, I can say that there was definitely some awkward editing in there. I'm not sure how the movie will be, but AICN liked it (albeit without prior familiarity with the show), so, while I'm nervous about the movie, I'm leaning in the direction of it being good.

That said, there's no way Depp/Carter will be better than Hearn/Lupone. The old Hearn/Lansbury recording was good because it was a full production, so you can follow the story, but the Hearn/Lupone "in Concert" recording has better performances once you know what's going on. It's harder to follow though, due to its minimal set/props, no stage effects, and a full on-stage orchestra. The new movie could pretty successfully replace the Hearn/Lansbury recording as the best introduction to the show available on DVD.

 

[MJ12]

Well tim Burton's films are always visually stunning, and I am a big fan of him. But, he has failed before.

I was just going into this trailer expecting dark humor quality to that of BeetleJuice, except not as corky.

In the trailer they also used a very-non Tim Burtonish Song, which IMO didn't go with the trailer at all. And the song about vengeance so far looks weak. Tim Burton's movies almost never fail when it comes to audio work, and that interpretation just had no flow at all, and didn't have that Danny Elfman splash to it.

Also, the narrators voice I didn't like... it seemed to not fit well. They should have used Christopher Lee as usual, never go wrong with him.

The visuals look stunning as usual, and it has Depp and Burton, so like I said, I am still going to give it a chance, I just really found that trailer to be a let down.

 

[Qhartb]

"The song about vengeance" called "Epiphany." It's a really awesome piece, not weak at all, but I don't know about how it'll work on-screen, especially the way they're doing it. That song is when Sweeney breaks down, his plan changing from vengeance on the two characters that royally screwed him to a complete loathing of himself and the world, though still obsessing over the guys that screwed him, just not in as much of a hurry and happy to kill innocents in the meantime. The part in the trailer breaks the fourth wall in the stage production, with Sweeney pointing and addressing the audience, "I will have YOU!" Having Depp's Sweeney addressing random people in the street is weaker, but breaking the fourth wall is harder to do effectively in cinema than theatre.

I love Danny Elfman; he's easily one of my favorite film scorers, maybe even my #1 favorite. However, Stephen Sondheim is practically godlike. He's one of the best writers of music alive right now, including writers of rock/pop, classical, film scores, musical theatre, etc. And one of the best lyricists while he's at it, up there with Ira Gershwin. If the movie fails, you absolutely can't fault the source material. Of course, it may not "be your cup of tea" and might not "float your boat," but if I don't like a Mozart piano concerto, it's not because the piece is bad, just that it doesn't suit my taste.

Incidentally, I don't know where the music at the start of the trailer was from. Up to where Depp was singing isn't from the show.

As for the narrator's voice... eh, it's just a trailer narrator. Doesn't affect the movie. Christopher Lee would've been nice, I agree.

Anyways, the elements of the film:
Visuals: Tim Burton, usually visually strong. Good.
Writing: Sondheim's lyrics are top-notch. Hugh Wheeler's spoken scenes in the musical are mostly short and work fine. John Logan, who adapted the screenplay, is the wildcard, but hopefully he mostly worked with Burton to put the visual aspects into the screenplay.
Story: Christopher Bond's play made Sweeney what it is today. A couple characters were cut for the musical, but were completely inconsequential. They existed solely for a more important character to hide among. Good.
Music: Sondheim. Amazing.
Acting performances: Certainly a capable cast. Good.
Musical performances: A little worried. Depp hanging on the consonant 'n' in "vennnnnnngeance" seems weird to me, and I haven't heard the others sing yet.

So basically, I know the show is good. I expect that Burton's direction will be new and interesting, in a good way. If anything is lacking, it will be in the musical performances and possibly in the screenplay if John Logan fixed things that weren't broken (and there are things that need fixing, because the transition from stage to screen breaks things). If those things are lacking, I have the "in Concert" DVD to fall back on, so I can enjoy what's good about both versions, but the main audience doesn't see that as an option, so I'll keep my fingers crosses hoping the performances will be solid.

 

[Qhartb]

Just found this video on youtube. It cuts between Johnny Depp's and George Hearn's Sweeneys singing the part of the Epiphany featured in the trailer. You can see that Depp's Todd is much more subdued. I won't say it's bad without seeing the rest of Depp's portrayal leading up to that point, but it's definately different.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmtbxzIgmIA

You can find either actor's full performances on that song pretty easily on youtube, too. (Depp's is audio only for parts, though.)

 

[MJ12]

Musical performances: A little worried. Depp hanging on the consonant 'n' in "vennnnnnngeance" seems weird to me, and I haven't heard the others sing yet.

So basically, I know the show is good. I expect that Burton's direction will be new and interesting, in a good way. If anything is lacking, it will be in the musical performances and possibly in the screenplay if John Logan fixed things that weren't broken (and there are things that need fixing, because the transition from stage to screen breaks things). If those things are lacking, I have the "in Concert" DVD to fall back on, so I can enjoy what's good about both versions, but the main audience doesn't see that as an option, so I'll keep my fingers crosses hoping the performances will be solid.

yeah, that was what I was trying to get at, I am not sure I like the way the film portrays it.

 

[VictimOfScience]

I love the Hearn/Lansbury version so it will be hard to top it, but since it is Burton and cinema it will have to be judged on its own merits rather than against the stage version imho. Can't wait. Its a perfect fit for the cast and Burton's mad dark genius.