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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

tomatometer

86

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Reviews Counted: 220
Fresh: 189 | Rotten: 31

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.

85

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 39
Fresh: 33 | Rotten: 6

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.

audience

81

liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 1,646,138

My Rating

Movie Info

Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical thriller comes to the big screen in this adaptation directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Timothy Spall, and Alan Rickman. Embittered at having been wrongly imprisoned and determined to seek vengeance against his accusers due to the grim fate that befell his wife and daughter while he was incarcerated, ex-convict Sweeny Todd (Depp) returns to his hometown and opens a modest barber shop. The one thing

R, 1 hr. 57 min.

Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Mystery & Suspense

John Logan

Apr 1, 2008

$52.8M

DreamWorks/Paramount Studios

Cast

All Critics (220) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (196) | Rotten (33) | DVD (32)

A considerable achievement even if, on balance, it's more of a Tim Burton phantasmagoria than a Sondheim fantasia.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | Comment
Christian Science Monitor
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The movie may substitute Grand Guignol for laughs at times, but it's spectacularly stylized -- each throat-slashing exceptional -- persuasively sung, and imaginatively adapted for the screen.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: NPR.org | Comment
NPR.org
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It is distinguished, hypnotic, brilliantly executed and positively electrifying.

January 4, 2008 Full Review Source: New York Observer | Comment
New York Observer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

'Sweeney Todd': Burton has deconstructed and redefined Sondheim's masterwork, creating a film that compliments its stage predecessor. 'Todd' is at once different from the play and yet not different at all. A unique achievement

December 24, 2007 Full Review Source: Passionate Moviegoer | Comment
Passionate Moviegoer
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This Sweeney Todd is all subtext and no substance. It starts off large and swaggering but doesn't know where to turn next: Burton seems fixated on serving up an event, to the extent that he neglects to dig into the story.

December 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Salon.com | Comments (25)
Salon.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mesmerizing and highly entertaining.

December 21, 2007 Full Review Source: USA Today | Comment
USA Today
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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

November 17, 2011 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

This magnificently realized musical from Stephen Sondheim contains the right blend of emotional pathos, stunning visuals and accessible songs.

July 14, 2011 Full Review Source: Digital Spy | Comment
Digital Spy

It's gross but will it gross? Burton and Depp's cannibal musical is an especially acquired taste - Oliver! reimagined by Eli Roth. Brave, brutal... ballads?

May 27, 2011 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

Looks incredible, like a moving painting, but it's absolutely mediocre...

October 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comments (4)
Cinema Crazed

Sweeney Todd may just be that rare musical with broad appeal to audiences who might normally say they don't care for the genre.

June 12, 2010 Full Review Source: DCist | Comment

Elevates a rollicking gorefest into a dark work of art

August 27, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

This is a remarkable piece of work for people who like their genres all mashed together in a meat grinder.

August 14, 2009 Full Review Source: UGO | Comment

Sweeney Todd is a throat-slasher of a motion picture. It creates a new genre -- the slasher musical. Adapted from the Tony-winning Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim, it's the tuneful tale of cutthroat's revenge.

February 2, 2009 Full Review Source: Fayetteville Free Weekly | Comment
Fayetteville Free Weekly

Filming a major Broadway musical has always been trouble for moviemakers; none of them seem to work.

November 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comments (3)
Slant Magazine

An already impressive DVD release gets even better--the definitive release of Tim Burton's best movie since Ed Wood.

October 29, 2008 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | Comment
Slant Magazine

As unsettling as it is riveting. Even Sondheim aficionados will see the story with fresh eyes, unless those eyes are covered.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Comment
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

[Burton's] vision of a dark and smoggy nineteenth century London, with muted colors, is perfect for the music and the story.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | Comment
Three Movie Buffs

Depp's staggering performance perfectly merges the story's humour, horror and romance into a serious punch to the gut.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | Comment
Shadows on the Wall

One of the best movies of his career.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Bullz-Eye.com | Comment
Bullz-Eye.com

Burton was born to film this strange and spooky chamber piece.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Times [UK] | Comment
Times [UK]

The film suffers from a relentless emphasis on bland, thoroughly forgettable musical numbers whose sameness inevitably lends the proceedings a distinctly oppressive quality.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | Comments (21)
Reel Film Reviews
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

A musical slasher flick that is just beyond fun. This is Tim Burton and if you dont care for him dont watch but if you do this is a good one.

May 9, 2008
jmanard52

Super Reviewer

ennui - i'm done with the burton / depp show. just another vehicle for same - albeit a witty tuneful one.

December 25, 2007
brooklynspo

Super Reviewer

    1. Mrs. Nellie Lovett: Lawyer's rather nice.
    2. Sweeney Todd: If it's for a price.
    3. Mrs. Nellie Lovett: Order something else, though to follow since no one should swallow it twice.
    4. Sweeney Todd: Anything that's lean?
    5. Mrs. Nellie Lovett: Well then if you're British and loyal you might enjoy Royal Marine. Anyway it's clean, though of course it tastes of wherever it's been.
    6. Sweeney Todd: Is that Squire on the fire?
    7. Mrs. Nellie Lovett: Mercy no sir look closer you'll notice it's Grocer.
    8. Sweeney Todd: Looks thicker, more like Vicar.
    9. Mrs. Nellie Lovett: No it has to be Grocer. It's green.
    – Submitted by Ceara R (12 days ago)
    1. Sweeney Todd: And I guarantee to you that without a penny's charge I will give you a closest shave you'll ever get.
    – Submitted by Alexander U (20 days ago)
    1. Mrs. Nellie Lovett: I was thinking flowers, maybe daisies, to brighten up the room... Do you think that flowers, pretty daisies, could relieve the gloom?
    – Submitted by Alexander U (20 days ago)
    1. Sweeney Todd: At last! My arm is complete again!
    – Submitted by Megan P (2 months ago)
    1. Beggar Woman: Alms! Alms! For a desperate woman!
    – Submitted by Victor H (4 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Sweeney Todd - Der teuflische Barbier aus der Fleet Street (DE)
  • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (UK)
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