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Given this is a Burton movie, the cast is just as good as you'd hope for. Of course Johnny Depp does an amazing job playing a man who is very quickly losing the little sanity he had to begin with (the whole of the finale was a fantastically gory and manic conclusion), and is a treat to see, as are Alan Rickman and Helena Bonham Carter. Jayne Wisener doesn't do much, but the story doesn't really give her much to do, so that's excusable. Two smaller performances I really liked here were Timothy Spall and Jamie Campbell Bower, as Spall gave that slimy, smarmy performance I liked from his portrayal of Pettigrew, and Bower gave us a fresh, innocent face which contrasted nicely with everything else on screen.
Given that there are so few musicals with horror elements mixed in, it's hard to compare this one to the ideal horror-musical. I do know I liked the songs better in this one than I did from Repo! The Genetic Opera, but that's more due to stylistic differences above anything else. That said, I don't know how memorable most of the songs here are – something that is of mild concern.
Regardless, the story of revenge was well-done, and the splatter of gore, for a mainstream movie like this, was surprisingly good. There wasn't much variety in the death scenes, which were generally just slit throats, but the blood did flow generously, which was good enough to me.
The tone of this one is just dark, and while the ending isn't entirely down-hearted, it certainly lives up to it's dark feel. Also worth noting, while the movie's almost two hours, it doesn't feel that long at all, mainly, I suspect, because of the songs. If you're a fan of Burton, I don't see why this film would let you down over any of his others, unless you couldn't stomach the multiple slit throats. It's an experience that's not overly surprising if you're a fan of Burton's, but it is rewarding despite it's tragic conclusion, even upon multiple viewings.
8/10
