the scenic route is long and winding

After the unintentional horror that was The Corpse Bride (sorry, walked out on it), I'm glad to see that Burton is back in top form. The trademark blue-grays, pale faces and dark eyes, and the blood! Ooh preeetty!... His take on Sweeney Todd is entertaining, but strangely not enough (but still muuuuch better than TCB).

Acting was A-plus, with Burton's old reliables Johnny Depp and wife Helena Bonham-Carter playing the main characters. Credit also goes to the always Always wonderful Alan Rickman, who seem to give the movie some much needed (hmm...what's the word?) muscle. Glad to see they can all sing (That was an orgasmic duet by Depp and Rickman). I was surprised to learn that one of my favoritest songs comes from the play ("Not While I'm Around"--I'm a Streisand fan, and she covers this a lot). Nice, nice.

Generally, props all around but there seems to be something missing. It didn't hit me at the jugular with the same ferocity as Todd's friendly razors. I don't know exactly how it happened, but I couldn't empathize with any of them, except for Todd's victims. And that's strange.

About an hour-and-a-half long, it seemed, I dunno, a little rushed. I have no way to compare this with the Broadway version but I just couldn't get in there with them, know what I mean? I'm happy that Burton has his groove back but next time, I hope there's a little more heart and a little less style.

Oh well, he may be Tim Burton but I guess even He is not immune to the curse that's befalling Broadway-turned-Hollywood schemes.