Eh. The sets and costumes were great, and the acting fine (esp on Mr. Depp's part) but the direction of most of the musical numbers just wasn't there. And there's a lot of singing, so that's a problem.
There are two numbers where the singing characters are explicitly fantasizing, and here Burton lets the film find itself, engaging in whirling and delightfully macabre visuals. The rest of the time, it's like watching a tennis match. You get a still shot of Character A while they sing a verse, then cut to a still shot of Character B reacting, then return to Character A so they can sing some more. Repeat until out of notes. This gets boring fast, especially when many of the singing actors are so bland.
I shall be kind and call it an entertaining if uneven show. Wait for it to hit video, and then fast-forward until the first scene with Sacha Baron Cohen, because the film doesn't really start to get interesting until Mrs. Lovett's pies do.
Or rent the DVD of the musical.
Do you know, I had forgotten that it was a musical until the first character on-screen opened his mouth, and I was briefly confused?
Quote from the film's WP article: