Top 250

Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Number 146 on IMDb's Top 250

Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) returns to London with the help of a sailor, Anthony Hope (Jamie Campbell Bower) after being sent away by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) who was in love with Todd's wife. Barker, however, has changed his name, he goes by Todd now, Sweeny Todd. Hilarity ensues and songs burst out as he opens a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop were Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) sells the self proclaimed "worst pies in London." With the help of Mrs. Lovett, Todd plots his revenge on anyone who has ever done him wrong and hopes to be reunited with his daughter, Joanna (Jayne Wisener), who is now Judge Turpin's ward. In the meantime, he might as well help procure some meat for Mrs. Lovett.

Trivia: This is the sixth Johnny Depp-Tim Burton collaboration. They previously made Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Corpse Bride together. Helena Bonham Carter underwent extensive vocal lessons and studied baking in preparation for her role. To prepare for the role of Adolfo Pirelli, Sacha Baron Cohen hired his personal barber as a consultant on shaving techniques, and took up to 16 hours to learn how to handle a razor. Helena Bohamn Carter's hairstyle is tribute to the hairstyle worn by the original Mrs. Lovett, Angela Lansbury. At the end of the song "A Little Priest", Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett strike the same pose as the promotional material used for the original Broadway production of the musical.

The Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration is today's equivalent of the the great colaboration of the past like John Ford and John Wayne. Ford and Wayne made 21 movies together and quite a few are considered as some of Wayne's best like Stagecoach, The Searchers, The Quiet Man, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Burton's films are not as mainstream as Ford's but then again, Depp isn't as mainstreem as Wayne. Depp has a gift for playing the quirky characters that fitt perfectly into Burton's quirky worlds. Helena Bonham Carter also completely fit into that world. She has a slightly grubby quality to her that fits Mrs. Lovett. Oh yeah, this is a musical, I need to talk about the music. Neither Depp nor Carter have sang before and they do admirable jobs of it, again fitting into the Burton world. I realize that this isn't your typical musical fodder, I mean Todd butchers people and Mrs. Lovett cooks them into pies, but it really is a good musical and a great movie.