How you feel about this film will pretty much depend upon how you feel about the work of Stephen Sondheim. After all, this is a (pretty faithful) adaptation of his Broadway musical, so yes, characters do break into song every few minutes and yes, some of it is a bit, 'Oh Joanna, I can feel you' which lays itself open to wince-inducing moments.

Firstly, the big questions. Can Johnny Depp sing? Oh yes, most assuredly, he puts in a performance that is three parts David Bowie and two parts Anthony Newley and he's never less than convincing as the wronged barber taking revenge for an injustice he suffered years before. Can Helena Bonham Carter (or to give her the full title, Mrs Tim Burton) sing? Yes, surprisingly well. In fact, she's one of the stronger elements in the film. Actually, there is much to admire here, not the least Burton's recreation of olde London town, drab and dirty and full of cockroaches. But... and this is a big 'but', his decision to go the Grande Guignol route does feel like a serious misjudgement. Throats are cut in full on, horror movie stylee and not just once but many, many times – and frankly so many severed jugulars quickly become... well, bloody boring, to tell you the truth. This is the only element that has earned the film its 18 certificate, when a little judicious cutting – if you'll forgive the pun – would have given it a 15 and taken it to a wider audience.

The ending is so downbeat it's hard to come away in good spirits and once again, Burton has missed the opportunity to give the film a little redemptive power. It was right there, waiting to be employed. So file this under 'I' for interesting failure. Burton is never less than interesting but Sweeney Todd frankly gets lost in a spray of arterial crimson too often to make it anything more than a three star movie.