Happy blogday!

I, too, was less than impressed with the opening credits. (It's a little better in the version here, though.) It reminds me strongly of chocolate-making opening of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It seemed too cold and CGI and unreal, especially when compared to the delicious-looking chocolate-making opening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Now, CGI can be used fantastically, and it can be warm and emotional and all-around great (see Pixar and others for examples, obviously), but it just doesn't seem to work well in this case (unless it isn't CGI, which means that my comments are about the wrong medium but still stand). The blood seems too bright red (and too much the consistency of paint) to seem realistic to me, and that pulls me out of the scene right from the beginning. Although the bit where they pull back from the meat grinder, where it looks like horrible giant worms squirming out at you, and then you see what it is, and then you remember exactly what it is, and shudder a bit, is quite nice. Also, I think there was actually a reason why they didn't open with the ballad--Depp's daughter was ill during production, so the schedule was tight and a number of scenes were cut, including those that were to have Christopher Lee and Anthony Stewart Head singing. I was most unhappy to hear that.
 

i'm officially addicted to the superest now. awesome!