the movieGOOMBA

3 GOOMBAS

I wonder if Tim Burton ever gets tired his look; his film look. I mean, it is slightly different each time, depending on its mood. Sometimes it's sad and darkly over exaggerated, sometimes it's happy and darkly over exaggerated, and other times it's madly gruesome and over exaggerated. But the costumes and scenery are always loud and attractively strange. It's almost like M. Night Shyamalan and his necessity to add twists to the ending. I wonder if it ever gets old to him. It surely doesn't get old for me as an audience member, but I guess an artist can only have one style.

Tim Burton's teams up with his #1 fan, Johnny Depp, in his latest, madly gruesome, musically tart flick, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. In a past life, Benjamin Barker was happily married to a beautiful woman and had a beautiful daughter. Unfortunately for Barker, his wife's beauty attracted Judge Turpin, who then vindictively puts Barker in prison so he could swoop in and take Barker's wife for his own. Upon Barker's return (now calling himself Sweeny Todd) we find, through the magic of music, that he's given up on that life and vows to open up a barber shop on Fleet Street. Eventually, with the aid of his landlady Mrs. Lovett, he begins to kill all his customers via a single blade razor, while Mrs. Lovett turns their remains into meat pies.

I don't know why I laughed. Maybe because it was just so insanely gross and graphic that I must have needed to alleviate my involuntary cringing and repellence. Like always, Burton's attention to detail is stunning, and Depp's ability to look demoniacally crazed while still maintaining the ability to carry a tune is remarkable. And on the killing - the neck is such a delicate area that the chosen method for murder makes it seem more brutal, yet the actual murders were still kind of graceful. Until, of course, he pulled the lever that dropped the bodies down to the basement on their heads; then it was funny.

Sweeny Todd's character is tragic and romantic, yet wretched and pathetically evil. So sad for him. The ending's a dilly. Sweeny Tood will take you into his world and make you see internal struggle splattered across the screen. I wouldn't skip it if you're not into musicals. You can't really tell it is one. I would skip it if you're squimish or if you dislike meat.