Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

It’s obvious that people in Hollywood are running out of ideas, so naturally when they turn an old play, or even a comic book for that matter, into a movie – I tend to not really pay much attention to it. However, when it’s a play that I’ve enjoyed both reading, and seeing, I have to say that it’ll spark my interest pretty quickly. On December 21st, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” will be in theaters and I have to say, I’m excited about it. I’ve read the play quite a few times, I was even on the lighting crew when my high school preformed this play a few years ago. With the amount of fun I had behind the scenes, it’s no surprise that I see the movie itself as something of great interest to me.

Johnny Depp plays Benjamin Barker (aka: Sweeney Todd) and as the story goes he returns to London after being deported on trumped-up charges to Botany Bay prison. Upon his return, he learns that his wife and child were brutally murdered by Judge Turpin. He learns this information from Nellie Lovett, the widow baker and someone who’s always had a crush on Todd. She tells him about what happened and it sends Todd into a rage of madness which is consumed by the thirst for revenge against Turpin. Ever-practical, with the possibility of murder and mayhem, Mrs. Lovett thinks of a fiendishly clever way that they can both make a killing – literally. Those whom Todd murders are baked into the mince-meat pies that Lovett serves in her bakery.

Now, this is a rather morbid story but when you really pay close attention there is a very interesting story line that isn’t filled with blood. This particular installment was directed by Tim Burton who has been known for making things much darker than they actually are. I’ll just use “Willy Wonka” as a key example right now, even though he based it more off of the book than Mel Stuart did in his rendition back in the 70’s – but I digress.

So there are a few easy ways to learn some more about the movie. You can visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site, or you can heady over and visit Sweeney Todd on MySpace. I’m going to say that bringing anyone under the age of 13 to see this movie would be absolutely stupid considering how morbid the story line is but if you know that your kid can handle it, knock yourself out.