Now on DVD: Sweeney Todd

I have to admit it, I have yet to see a bad Johnny Depp movie. I'm not sure why that is; maybe he just puts that much effort into his characters.

His latest film, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street shows he not only can act; he's also a surprisingly good singer as well. And, unlike his cult classic "Cry Baby," he's not lip-synching in this one.

Depp brings the murderous barber to life on the screen; adding a little bit of flare to his character that looked and acted a bit like a cross between the pirate Jack Sparrow (from his film, Pirates of the Caribbean) and Willie Wonka (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) with a bit of his split personality character in Secret Window. It was hard to decide whether to love him or hate him because he had every reason to want revenge against the judge (Alan Rickman) who imprisoned him, raped his wife and stole his daughter. But, he seemed to have no problem killing innocent people either.

Of course, you couldn't say the same about Rickman's character; you naturally hated him. After all, he adopted Todd's daughter after her mother poisoned herself and raised her only to try to marry her. That's a bit creepier than a barber slicing peoples' throats in my opinion.

Todd's accomplice in crime, Mrs. Lovett (Helen Bonham Carter), is also a bit hard to like considering she encourages Todd's murderous tendencies so she can use the dead bodies for meat in her meat pies.

Overall, this turned out to be a good movie, but it was one of those films I was glad to see but was also happy I didn't spend the money to see it at the movie theater.

First, the sound quality wasn't the greatest. The background music would get a bit loud at times and you couldn't hear what the characters were saying. My wife and I had to keep filling each other in on little details that one of us would catch but the other wouldn't. However, I will say the lighting and makeup made up for this because the grayish atmosphere really made the blood stand out.

I also felt a bit like I was watching a Harry Potter reunion since three of the main characters (Rickman, Carter and Timothy Spall) have appeared in at least one of the Harry Potter films (Rickman has been in all of them). This isn't a big deal, except we found ourselves comparing the characters in this movie to the characters in the Harry Potter movies and would sometimes miss something important while doing this.

And, maybe it's just me, but I found it a bit strange that the neighbors would complain about the smell coming from Lovett's Meat Pie bakery but not one person wondered where their husband, father, etc. disappeared to after going in for a shave.

I did enjoy the film, despite the sound quality so, on a scale from one to 10, I would give it an 8.

While at the movie store: Staying on a Johnny Depp and barber theme, why not rent the movie Edward Scissor Hands and wonder what Sweeney Todd would have been able to do with hands like that.