<p>^^^J, LOL about the mechanical chair route to your basement! 
For some reason, my D has always loved this musical. It is not a favorite of mine but I have seen it a couple of times at her theater camp and it was done well there. She is a lover of Sondheim and that is likely part of it. I thought the film was good as a drama (though I truly feel it didn’t need to be so gory in how it was depicted but I am very squeamish that way). I tried to overlook that musically, these were not the best singers. It was an adaptation. My D really liked it a lot. She feels that one shouldn’t expect the movie musical to be like a stage musical, but rather an adaptation and she felt this was a very good adaptation for the medium. Just sharing her perspective as she relayed it to me (she saw it before I did).</p>
<p>The best part was the acting and the lead characters were good in that way, I thought. Depp’s singing was decent, considering that is not his background. Carter’s wasn’t so hot but they seemed to downplay the musicality and played up acting the songs (which she did well). Yes, given all the great MT actresses out there, you would come to expect one to be cast but it seems that in most movie musicals, they are casting movie actors, not MT ones! I’m not agreeing with that but simply an observation. I agree that the little boy playing Tobias sang very well. I thought the guy playing Anthony sang well but did not look right for the part. And yes, Green Finch and Linnet Bird was very ordinarily done and there are so many MT actresses who could have done it better. Overlooking the singing, I thought it was well done as a MOVIE. Had that been the singing in a stage musical, it would have been more problematic. I realize as theater goers, we come to expect great singing in musicals but it seems for the movie musicals, they are casting movie actors mostly. Some sing very well (like Renee Zellweger in Chicago) and some so so, such as some in this movie. Now, YOUR D could have run circles around the actress playing Johanna when it comes to singing that song!! It seems that being a great soprano singer wasn’t the criteria used in casting this Joanna. I thought the cinematography was good in terms of the setting/period. Coincidentally, my D just called from…London!</p>