This One's A Killer Of A Movie: Johnny Depp In Sweeney Todd

Tim Burton is a genius on so many levels. One, of course, is using Johnny Depp as his star. Brilliant! Remember Edward Scissorhands? That's when I was first introduced as Johnny, the movie star. I had seen him on TV in "21 Jump Street" but Edward S. was when we all realized how versatile this guy was.

How could you not feel sorry for those puppy eyes on a pasty pale face? It was to cry for. Someone, his creator, died before he could fix him. How tragic. But Edward did his best and with what he was given. Thank goodness for a kind lady, dressed in pink, who took him home and at least attempted to give him a normal life. My favorite part of the movie is when he so tragically understood that he could never be with the one he loved and created that ice sculpture with his scissor hands of Kim (Winona Ryder).

Although, Edward S. was probably one of my favorite JD movies I have to admit that his portrayal of Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean" (which was not directed by pal, Tim Burton) probably outdid even Edward. I say this because it's always good to laugh and Johnny knows how to give you a good chuckle. Jack can rip your heart out, make you incredibly mad, then he makes you love him and in the end he'll always make you laugh. I can replay the scene where Jack (in trouble once again) is running for his life from a tribe of cannibals. Love the language he spoke with them, by the way--wiki, wiki, tookey tookey, snip, snip, savvey? Or something like that. In any case, at this point of the movie I can't stop giggling.

All this to say that Johnny's new movie seems to be a totally different kind of movie again. You'll really have to visit the official Sweeney Todd movie site to get a feel for this one. It's a musical, albeit a rather grim and horrific musical. But if anyone can pull it off it would be Mr. Depp. We've seen the original play and all I can tell you is don't eat lunch before you see this movie. Especially the meat pies. And if you need a hair cut stay away from barbers with a pasty face and a hairdo for the birds. Ah, very suspicious indeed--a barber with a bad hair cut.

I can't wait to hear Johnny sing and cut up the place, so to speak. Check out the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which is Sweeney Todd, at MySpace. You'll be horrifically entertained. See you at the theater.