Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Rotten Tomatoes

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

R

Released Dec 21, 2007

1 hr. 57 min.

Musical

Mystery & Thriller

Crime

Drama

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for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Trailer 1

List

86%

233 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

250,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) lusts for the beautiful wife of a London barber (Johnny Depp) and transports him to Australia for a crime he did not commit. Returning after 15 years and calling himself Sweeney Todd, the now-mad man vows revenge, applying his razor to unlucky customers and shuttling the bodies down to Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who uses them in her meat-pie shop. Though many fall to his blade, he will not be satisfied until he slits Turpin's throat.

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Critics Consensus

Full of pith and Grand Guignol grossness, this macabre musical is perfectly helmed and highly entertaining. Tim Burton masterfully stages the musical in a way that will make you think he has done this many times before.

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L E

The story of Sweeney Todd is a modern Dionysian tragedy that depicts the complete dissolution of a man who loses his mind in a mad quest for revenge. The original musical by Sondheim is a masterpiece whose musical structure portrays Sweeney's carefully controlled rage slipping inch by inch, devolving into a nihilistic rampage that ends in nothing but an inhumane lust for blood and his righteous death. While there is no denying that Tim Burton translates the story beats of the film well enough, he loses much of the play's tragic beauty in his pursuit of a Burton-esque texture to the film. Tim Burton is an absolute master of mise en scène, and almost all of his films are instantly recognizable due to their whimsically dark atmosphere. His directing style strives for texture above all else, which can often uplift the story to even greater heights, like in the case of Coraline or Edward Scissorhands. However, it can also demean the narrative by turning a serious story into a parody of itself; a fate that Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street has just barely avoided. In Tim Burton's reimagining of this classic Broadway musical, London is rendered a surreal reflection of the original setting. Sweeney Todd has been transformed from a sorrowful Victorian barber into a hollow-eyed ghoul with silly hair. Tobias is not an intellectually-disabled 20-year-old, but a sharp and spunky preteen. The chorus is nowhere to be seen. Even the blood that soaks so much of the narrative is plaster-red and looks more like water dyed with food coloring. All of which contributes greatly to Burton's aesthetic, but pulls focus away from the story and characters of the film. All in all, Burton's work is a faithful retelling, but nothing more. Fans of his films may find much to like here, but fans of Sweeney Todd will have to look elsewhere for an authentic adaptation of their favorite demon barber.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/13/24

Full Review

Teddy B

Everybody involved feels like they were made for this specific production, rather than hampering Sondheim's vision like in Disney's 'Into the Woods' Tim Burton enhances the original musical through the medium of film. The only thing I wish was changed was some of the visual choices which come off as flat or dimly lit.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

04/13/24

Full Review

Alec C

Prepare yourself for blood and guts, along with a musical soundtrack. Sweeney Todd aka Benjamin Barker, returns to London seeking revenge against a corrupt judge and the society that cast him aside, one close shave at a time! Along with Ms. Lovett, the creator of the worse pies in London, this dastardly duo sing and dance through murder and mayhem in one of the most macabre musicals of all time!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/08/24

Full Review

Gareth v

Part crime mystery, part horror, part musical. A mish-mash of genres but with Burton,the master of gothic off-beat, and he has pulled of another highly entertaining movie here.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/27/24

Full Review

Nawt W

A story and setting that were practically suited for Tim Burton's direction and style. Hyperbolic gloom and contrast, with a macabre tone and characters that you can't describe in any other way but deranged.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

12/30/23

Full Review

Raven M

Johnny and Helena as well as Alan were brilliant in their roles it was directed very good by Tim Burton the music was good the singing by both Johnny and Helena was good .

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/15/23

Full Review

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Tim Burton

Director

Johnny Depp

Sweeney Todd

Helena Bonham Carter

Mrs. Lovett

Alan Rickman

Judge Turpin

Timothy Spall

Beadle Bamford

Sacha Baron Cohen

Adolfo Pirelli

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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Official Clip - Epiphany

2:10

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Official Clip - Shaving Contest

2:12

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Official Clip - Johanna

2:05

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Official Clip - Bloody Vengeance

1:58

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Official Clip - By the Sea

2:13

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Official Clip - God, That's Good!

2:12

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Official Clip - My Friends

2:09

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Official Clip - No Place Like London

2:13

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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Trailer 1

2:25

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Namrata Joshi

Outlook

It keeps getting bloodier by the scene, yet remains curiously engaging.

Rated: 2/4

Jan 29, 2019

Full Review

Deborah Ross

The Spectator

Without any warmth and humor at all, how are you meant to care? I'm not saying you always have to care about someone in a movie - not at all - but here the story is so ludicrous that, unless you can, why bother?

Aug 23, 2018

Full Review

Joshua Rothkopf

Time Out

This is grand-scale studio-work at its most beguiling.

Rated: 3/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

Nick Rogers

Midwest Film Journal

An entertaining piece of graphic poetry. When the blood starts to spurt, sputter and spit, it’s in just the right shade — not so thick and crimson as to be off-putting but not so fake and thin as to have no impact.

Rated: 3.5/4

Nov 9, 2023

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

A big, bold musical that functions as an upscale slasher film: It’s bloody but also bloody good.

Rated: 3.5/4

Oct 28, 2023

Full Review

David Reddish

Queerty

Director Tim Burton does take an iconoclastic approach to the material: here is a musical where characters whisper rather than belting to the back row. Burtons approach, while unusual by musical standards, is precisely what makes the movie work.

Rated: 4/4

Mar 20, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

Evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) lusts for the beautiful wife of a London barber (Johnny Depp) and transports him to Australia for a crime he did not commit. Returning after 15 years and calling himself Sweeney Todd, the now-mad man vows revenge, applying his razor to unlucky customers and shuttling the bodies down to Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who uses them in her meat-pie shop. Though many fall to his blade, he will not be satisfied until he slits Turpin's throat.

Director: Tim Burton
Executive Producer: Patrick McCormick
Screenwriter: John Logan
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Zanuck Company, Parkes/MacDonald
Rating: R (Graphic Bloody Violence)
Genre: Musical, Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 21, 2007, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $52.9M
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.85:1)

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