Tim Burton rewatch! Was Burton really the right choice to direct the adaptation of the macabre Broadway favorite Sweeney Todd? Let’s have some meat pies while we figure it out.

Here’s what happens: Former barber Sweeney Todd returns to London after being sentenced to jail by a corrupt judge, in a plot to steal away Sweeney’s wife. Sweeney desires only revenge, while his downstairs neighbor Mrs. Lovett desires only Sweeney. Together, they hatch a plan. Sweeney uses his blades to sever the throats of London’s undesirables, and Mrs. Lovett disposes of the bodies by baking them into her delicious and profitable meat pies.

Origin story: The character Sweeney Todd first appeared in a series of stories called A String of Pearls published from 1846 to 1847. There’s much debate among historians whether these stories were based on a real murder. The ghoulish tale has been adapted dozens (hundreds?) of times, most famously by Steven Sondheim in 1970’s Broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Combining comedy and horror, this was an ambitious production involving a complex, multi-level set. The musical remains perennially popular, still performed around the world to this day.

Outsider theory: Sweeney is single-minded in his journey toward vengeance, making him blind to the lives and feelings of others around him. But it’s Mrs. Lovett who is the classic Burton-ish outsider. Her unrequited and misguided love for Sweeney is her escaping into her own fantasy world. This is best seen during “By The Sea” a song portrayed broad and comedic, not quite in tone with the rest of the movie.

Reality breaks through: How does the real world make itself known? Through fate. Sweeney’s revenge and Mrs. Lovett’s romanticism lead them both down a path that can only end in tragedy, yet they follow this path to its conclusion because there is no other way to go.

Best bits: Mrs. Lovett: “You’re barking mad! Killing a man what done you know harm?” Sweeney: “He recognized me from the old days. Tried to blackmail me. Half me earnings.” Mrs. Lovett: “Oh well, that’s a different matter, then. For a moment there, I thought you lost your marbles.”

Thoughts on this viewing: The movie really should be retitled Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, as the Broadway show is wholly remixed into something new to better fit Burton’s themes and monochromatic aesthetics. But Sondheim’s twisty-turny lyrics are still catchy, and this is probably the best of Helena Bonham-Carter and Johnny Depp’s many pairings. The final thirty minutes are especially compelling, when everything goes full operatic tragedy.

Next: Off with her head!

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