Advance reviews are out for Sweeney Todd and the critics are raving about incredible performances by Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. Depp might even win his first Oscar for this one. The only reservations that people seem to have about the film have to do with the blood and gore shown throughout. It looks like it’s going to be a huge commercial as well as a critical success:

Both sharp and fleet, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” proves a satisfying screen version of Stephen Sondheim’s landmark 1979 theatrical musical. Where much could have gone wrong, things have turned out uniformly right thanks to highly focused direction by Tim Burton, expert screw-tightening by scenarist John Logan, and haunted and musically adept lead performances from Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. Assembled artistic combo assures the film will reap by far the biggest audience to see a pure Sondheim musical, although just how big depends on the upscale crowd’s tolerance for buckets of blood, and the degree to which the masses stay away due to the whiff of the highbrow.

[From Variety via The Huffington Post]

This film looks incredible and although I usually avoid both scary films and musicals I’ll go see it. There’s just too much advance buzz for me to ignore.

Johnny Depp looked dashing with a hint of mischievousness at the premiere of the film in NY last night. He wore studious round tortoiseshell glasses and a dapper pinstriped suit with a black shirt and silk tie. He paired the tailored outfit with incredibly muddy old beat-up workboots perhaps as a tribute to his character’s neurosis or maybe just to mix it up a little. This guy somehow exudes extreme charisma without a hint of arrogance. I know he had some issues in his youth with trashing hotel rooms but he’s at the top of his game now and he seems to definitely deserve the accolades. Hopefully he’ll have an Oscar to put on his mantle next year.

Sweeney Todd is out in US Theaters on December 21. Here are the release dates for the rest of the world.

Thanks to WENN for these photos.