"Into the Woods" intermingles the fairy tales of Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, and Red Riding Hood in a complex but fairly deftly plotted meta-fairy tale. A bewitched baker must bring back an item out of each fairy tale so that his wife may conceive, along the lines of the Sondheim musical.
Meryl Streep is superb as the witch. She symbolizes all the mothers who can't let their children grow up and leave the house, keeping Rapunzel locked in a tower and the young prince at bay for as long as she can. Rapunzel happens to be the baker's young sister, stolen by Streep as a baby to exact revenge on the baker's father, who visited her garden one night and made off without spilling the beans. But when did Meryl do a bad thing in movie? BUT when you say Meryl wont do a bad, this is her due. This movie imo is not good. Doesnt mean its not watchable.
"Into the Woods" is wordy and boring. It's a fairy tale story, so we expect something breezy and entertaining, not something existential and overbearing. As much as you can appreciate how Lapine and Sondheim have challenged the notion of fairy tales by turning them around on the audience, at some points it just gets boring. The film's third act, when "happily ever after" gets turned on its head, for example, is a test of patience, even though without it, the story would have no meaning and the film would therefore become artistically pointless.
The songs, cast, direction, cinematography, and production design are all top-notch. Obviously, you want good music in a musical, and Mr. Sondheim doesn't disappoint. Rob Marshall clearly knows what he's doing by now, as he expertly captures the actors performances, with camera work that sweeps you off your feet. I'm no expert on singing, but everyone in the cast seemed to be bringing their A game. The only performance I didn't really care for was Johnny Depp's, but thankfully he's only around for about one song.
For the first two-thirds of this movie, I was having a great time. The intersecting stories were interesting, the characters were fun, the (often dark) comedy was hilarious. Then came the third act.
There isn't really much to say about this film. The visuals are stunning and it looks well put together..the only problem are the songs..not only to they not advance the plot of the movie through the song..they bring it to a grinding halt and basically ramble about the same lesson or the same event freezing the entire movie in its tracks and letting it fall over itself.
There are also disturbing moments. When Mr. Wolf meets Red Riding Hood. I don't know how to put that politely, but at one point, Johnny Depp's character seems like, he's trying to make pass at Red. Excuse me but this is repulsive. It seems like this scene is designed especially for satisfying some pedophile's dream. And believe me this is not the worst moment, gets worse. Some following scene, Baker takes of Red's hood, and as leaving her alone in the woods he kisses her on the cheeks. Creepy.
The cast in this is phenomenal. So many stars and they all did brilliantly. I had not known that this was based on a musical and was thinking there were too many songs in this, but now it makes sense. And I still dont feeling it that Anna Kendrick is Cinderella.
This movie has potential, I haven't seen the play. But IMO it would be good. But then I watched the trailer and they thought it would the Oscar front runner? NO! Just because it has The Queen of Oscar, doesn't mean its good.
6.9/10-IMDb
72%-Rotten Tomatoes
69%-Metacritics
6.5/10 - My verdict
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