NO SINGING
If this movie had been presented as straight horror drama without the singing it would have been a lot better.
shareThis movie was based on the Broadway musical by Hugh Wheeler and Stephen Sondheim.
shareYes, but the music in the film was done SO badly that I agree with kenburke. It would have been better to present is as a dark-humored horror film.
shareI do agree that the music was really lacking when you compare it to the Broadway musical. They cut way too much for my taste.
shareThey cut to much, and did a bad job with the music that was kept on. I mean, "Try A Little Priest" is the funniest, bounciest, rollicking, audience-pleasing number ever written about murder... and it totally fell flat on film!
Tim Burton just isn't good at musicals. He would have done much better if he'd played to his own strengths and presented a horror comedy without music. Other versions of the story have been done without music, Burton could have made the best one if he'd had a clue.
"He would have done much better if he'd played to his own strengths and presented a horror comedy without music."
That, or hire a musical director and focus on just directing the scenes with dialogue - and if he has to be involved in musical numbers, focus on showing the actors how best to embody the lyrics and character motivations in the song, rather than musical performance itself. I thought his vision and his style was perfect for the atmosphere of Sweeney Todd, but he needed to also hire someone to work with who had experience with musicals.