SWEENEY TODD

Something happened to me in 2007. I almost always loathe musicals...but this year I enjoyed several of them. ONCE (if you consider that a musical) is one my favorite movies of the year...HAIRSPRAY was a pleasant surprise...and now SWEENEY TODD is another sheer (pun intended) delight. Visually speaking, SWEENEY TODD is one cool looking movie - but when Tim Burton is the director - that's a given. As for the singing...Johnny Depp is not going to Broadway or the Opera anytime soon, but its a lot of fun to wacth him croon through this bloody musical. Alan Rickman is excellent as the evil judge who is the target of Todd's revenge...and we even get Sacha Baron Cohen in a small but fun supporting role. The movie looks great and is fun to watch (if you can handle all the blood), but it's nothing particularly special. I had admittedly high hopes for this one, and I got a pretty good flick instead of the cult classic (ala EDWARD SCISSORHANDS) I was hoping for. Its good...but not great. 3 1/2 of 5