When I decided to watch Sweeney Todd, I knew it was a musical. I knew it had an all-star cast (Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman, Sasha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Timothy Spall). I knew it won an Oscar and was based on the Broadway musical. What I didn’t know is how gorey it would be. It was GOREY. It was purposefully fake looking, but still very effective. (For me it was so gorey it was actually quite humorous.) Johnny Depp does an excellent job as the Demon Barber, Sweeney Todd who is trying to strike revenge on the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). Depp also surprised (me at least) with an excellent singing voice. His great voice combined with excellent acting really got me into the movie; I was feeling for him. It got to the point where I was almost happy he was killing, because to me, he was the good guy and the people deserved it.

The music was very well written, well sung, and sometimes quite humorous. Tim Burton, not surprisingly, gave us his trademark all-the-good-guys-have-pale-skin routine and also makes London very gray.

The film is a musical, but don’t fret: I’m not very fond of musicals, but it this one really was good. To be honest, this film would be nothing if it wasn’t a musical.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street runs 116 minutes and is rated R (for graphic bloody violence). This means that this is NOT a child friendly film. Unless of course, the kid is SO desensitized from all the bloody video games, TV, and movies you’ve let him/her watch. If that is the case, by all means, show this to your younger counterpart.

I give this movie 8 ramheads out of 10.