The main thing that ruins this movie for me is Helena - she just gets Mrs. Lovett completely wrong. Mrs. Lovett is supposed to be the POLAR OPPOSITE of Sweeney's character, she's supposed to be flighty and chattery and forcibly cheery while he's driven, silent and brooding. That contrast is what makes them so great to watch, and it's supposed to make the final reveal of her deception more surprising. But those traits are not Carter's strong points and she just plays Mrs. Lovett like a female version of Sweeney, draining all the humor and energy from their dynamic, and also making her evil WAY too obvious from the beginning. When I saw the ending with Angela Lansbury the shock hit me like a trainwreck. With Carter I could just wonder 'How could anyone NOT see this coming?'
