Comparison and Contrast of Sweeney Todd and the Lion King Films - Essay Example

A movie is defined as a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement. Movies usually has a plot that are either based on a novel such as the Harry Potter, The Devil Wears Prada, A Walk to Remember, etc.; or have an original screenplay such as the High School Musical, Cheetah Girls, etc. Some are even counterparts or representation of popular theatrical plays that has already been considered as classic. However, in other cases, it is the other way around. A movie might be very brilliant and magnificently done it has garnered so much glamour, that a theatrical play is created to re-enact it. In this paper, we’re going to discuss two movies which have a counterpart theatrical production and try to compare and contrast some aspects between the two. One of these movies is “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” which is known as a theatrical play first before being a movie production. The other one is “The Lion King” known as a movie first before it is used for theatrical productions. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a theatrical play by Christopher Bond which is created in 1973. It has later become a musical thriller in 1979 with music and lyrics done by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler. The musical theater production of Sweeney Todd started at the Uris Theatre on March 1, 1979 and ran for almost 600 performances. It was directed by Harold Prince with musical staging by Larry Fuller. The musical tells the story of Benjamin Barker, alias Sweeney Todd, who returns to London after 15 years deportation and prison based on false charges. He then vows revenge after learning from his former landlady, Mrs. Lovett, that his wife poisoned herself after being raped by Judge Turpin who wrongly executed him. The musical theater production was really magnificent for it has nine nomination for Tony Awards in which it won eight including Best Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, and Best Actor in a Musical. And then later, the film adaptation of the theatrical play Sweeney Todd was jointly produced by DreamWorks and Warner Brothers. It was released on December 21, 2007. The director of the film was Tim Burton based on the screenplay done by John Logan. The film received high acclaim from critics and theatregoers and also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. It is hard to have a film adaptation of a famous play especially if the play has gained a lot of awards and has a lot of revival production because of its remarkable reputation. The screenplay has to be similar to the plot of the play but it needs to have more details and good film effects in its cinematography since in movies, you don’t have a closing and opening of curtains for cuts and transition between scenes. I think that these challenges were surmounted by the people behind the film adaptation of the play Sweeney Todd. As I’ve seen in the movie, the plot, details in each scene, as well as the musical scores sung personally by the actor and actresses were greatly planned and executed very well. Also, the “murderous” scenes in the movie is really very realistic than it is in the play. I can say the movie is “bloodier” and has a gloomier feel rather than the play. This should be the case for in movies, it is possible to have more realistic scenes because of special effects and it can be repeatedly done to achieve the almost perfect scene. It is also a good choice that director of the film is Tim Burton. The Sweeney Todd’s main concept of revenge is very applicable to Tim Burton which is known for gloomy and dark kind of films. This has been proven by the enormous awards that the movie has also gained. In contrast to Sweeney Todd, the Lion King is a movie production first before it became an adaptation for theater production. The Lion King is an animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and is actually the 32nd film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics. It was released in cinema on June 15, 1994 by Walt Disney Pictures. The story takes place in a kingdom of anthropomorphic animals in Africa and is about the conquest of several clans of animals to find the new ruler of their kingdom. The story was actually influenced by parables and stories in the Bible about Joseph and Moses and other famous classic stories. The Lion King is the sixth highest grossing animated film and continues to be the highest grossing 2D animation film in history. It has received enormous positive reviews from critics, which has admired the film for its musical score and story plot. Because of its success, The Lion King movie has created a musical theater play produced by Disney Theatrical. The Lion King musical is based on the 1994 Disney animated film with music and lyrics originally created by Elton John and Tim Rice. The musical score and choral arrangements of the theatrical production were done by Hans Zimmer and Lebo M. This production was directed by Julie Taymor. I think that it is also very challenging for a movie to have a theater play adaptation. Especially in the case of The Lion King, wherein it is an animated movie and the characters were almost entirely jungle animals. Of course, it is impossible to have real animals as the actors and actresses for the play. Hence, in the play, there are very grand costume designs for the actors and actresses and giant hollow puppets were also used to make the play more realistic and enticing. The play has put more efforts in the rehearsals of the production since it is also more difficult to act and execute scenes with all the enormous costumes and make-up on the actors and actresses. I can say that this theater production is one of the most well-crafted and marvelous play of all time. This might be the reason that until now, the production is still running worldwide. The two productions, Sweeney Todd and Lion King, are both movies with theater play counterpart. I think that the first comparison that can be made between the two productions is that the setting is very different. Sweeney Todd portrays scenes which happened in the gloomy era of London while the Lion King’s setting was the very lively jungle in Africa. I think that it is more difficult to have the theater production of the Lion King for the jungle of Africa needs to be adapted well and it requires a massive detail conceptualization. Another comparison that can be made was the portrayal of scenes and plot of stories. The Sweeney Todd production, both the movie and theater play, portrays the story of revenge while the Lion King portrays the conquest and journey towards being the ruler of a kingdom. Sweeney Todd aims to have a gloomy, sad, and dark ambience while the Lion King has an active, lively, and bright atmosphere. Regarding the movie production, I think that they are also different since the Lion King is an animated film while the Sweeney Todd involved real people. In general, I can say that the Lion King production exerts more effort in making its musical theater production while the Sweeney Todd has more effort in making its movie adaptation. However, both productions can be greatly admired for both have unique story and concepts. References: Crawley, Peter. 2007. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street".The Irish Times. Features. p.16 Gleiberman, Owen. 1994. "The Lion King movie review". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,302734~1~~,00.html. Retrieved May 6, 2011. Newgen, Heather. 2007-12-19. "Burton, Depp on the Making of Sweeney Todd". http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=4044. Retrieved May 7, 2011. Richards, Olly. 2007. "Sweeney Todd". Empire. pp. 100. Taymor, Julie. 1998. The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway. Disney Editions. Travers, Peter. 1994. "The Lion King movie review". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5947315/review/5947316/the_lion_king. Retrieved May 6, 2011. Read More