Johnny Depp. Perfect Movie.
Ok. So, there are a few more factors to consider, I suppose. But not really, right? Joel and I went to see this late Friday night. The Grove had it in a tiny theater--I was caught off guard when I went in to find seats while he got drinks. There are billboards for the movie every two feet in LA and they put it in the smallest theater in the place. Anyway, that has no real bearing on the movie.
It's a good movie. The opening is neat with some sort of computer animation telling the whole story in a vague way before we meet any of the characters. The atmosphere of the movie is what you expect of Tim Burton and Johnny Depp (and Helena Bonham Carter, for that matter) and it works perfectly. It's all muted with a few well-placed exceptions. The storyline is tight and the songs don't get in the way like they can in more ill-conceived musical to movie adaptations. The singing voices aren't perfect with the possible exception of the actress who plays Johanna (Jayne Wisener--her first on-screen role and her voice is very very pretty but under-used) but the less-than-wholly-musically-accurate voices add to the effect of the movie (and there weren't any terrible jarring moments in the singing which is something considering none of the actors was musically trained prior to this movie). You wouldn't expect the "demon barber of Fleet street" to sing like a canary so he doesn't. His first duet with Helena Bonham Carter is really very good. And, my goodness, even covered in white paint with purple around his eyes and blood spattered on his face, Johnny is . . . . well, the man is just sexy. The movie is gorey--lots and lots of blood. Lots. But nothing that I needed to cover my face for or anything. One teensey problem though . . . . plot spoiler below! (although hopefully in a different colored font--highlight it to read)
So, my one issue with the movie is that the story between Johanna and Anthony is left hanging a bit. I guess we are to assume that he returns with the coach and they escape--although probably to a less-than-ideal life as they have little to no means but I wanted one more shot of the two of them together and was frankly shocked that we didn't return to them, even if just for a tiny second to see them reconnect. It's just baffling that the subplot was left hanging. But I looked it up and it seems like the Broadway show ends the same way . . . . odd to me though. It doesn't ruin the movie for me but it gives me pause, especially when the rest of the movie was pretty tight and everything else was tied up pretty neatly (and it's odd for a Broadway show to leave a partially loose end)
Anyway, great movie. Worth watching every single day for a week ;-)
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