Movie Review: Into the Woods

Into the Woods is a rare film in today’s marketplace. A large scale movie, heavy with stars, that is also a musical. Some would argue that the age of the musical is well over with and why bother with that genre anymore? Musicals haven’t been main-stream for decades but recent history suggests that there is an audience for these spectacles during the holiday season as Les Misérables (2012), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), and Chicago (2002) all demonstrate. Into the Woods was directed by Rob Marshall who knows a bit about movie musicals as he also directed the aforementioned Chicago. The writer of Into the Woods is James Lapine who adapted the original stage play musical that he wrote with Stephen Sondheim (who you may have heard of).

Into the Woods is a curious mélange of several children’s stories taken in a new darker direction. We meet Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Jack (Daniel Huttlestone), the Baker (James Corden), and the Baker’s Wife (Emily Blunt) in the opening number. They sing about wishing for their dreams to come true and then along comes a Witch (Meryl Streep) to help them along. Cinderella wants to go to the ball or, in this case, a three-day festival that is going on at the palace. Predictably, her step-family is less than supportive of her, there is no way that she is getting her wish if they have their way. Her Stepmother (Christine Baranski) and her stepsisters, Lucinda (Lucy Punch) and Florinda (Tammy Blanchard), are heinous examples of humanity at its most greedy, vain, and self-involved and are perfect at being perfectly awful. Jack, pre-beanstalk, is wishing for the money support his small family: himself, his Mother (Tracey Ullman), and his beloved cow, Milky White. Regardless of how many times Mother thwacks Jack on the side of the head he still insists that the cow is his pet. Little Red Riding Hood is off to visit her grandmother and is wishing for a safe journey but we all know how that will end up. We meet Red in the Baker’s shop picking up bread for Granny, who is home and feeling poorly. The Baker and his Wife are wishing for a child of their own as they are unable to conceive. This leaves them desperate and vulnerable to the manipulations to come from the Witch. Turns out the Witch has problems of her own. She isn’t really an old, ugly hag but is under a curse herself. She must get certain special items on a particular day, the night of the Blue Moon, so she can create a potion to cure herself and restore her beauty. So the Witch makes a bargain with the Baker and his Wife to get the items for her and she will in turn ensure they have a child.

The film then turns into a madcap quest for the special items thru the woods, with much singing. The urgency of the search for the items, with a clear deadline, makes for a good dramatic storyline. The characters weave in and out of one another’s awareness and we meet many new characters as a result. We discover that the Witch has a ward, sort of, named Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) who is falling in love with a Prince (Billy Magnussen). This Prince is the younger brother of another Prince (Chris Pine) that is the heir to the throne of the kingdom and the future husband of Cinderella. Did I mention there is also a Giant (Frances de la Tour)? We also meet The Wolf (Johnny Depp) who is as hungry as you would expect. The film comes to a natural conclusion very quickly as wishes start to come true. But, every dream has a price, and the characters all start to pay theirs in dire fashion. The third act is filed with desperation as the truth is suddenly revealed to each of our principles. The price for their dreams, something they didn’t actually work for or achieve through their own methods but rather through magic, carries a cost that is very high indeed.

Meryl Streep in “Into the Woods.” © 2013 – Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

The simple fact that everyday life is fraught with its own perils and ups and downs is reflected clearly in the storyline here. Everyone must go “into the woods” at some point and must try to find a way out and then deal with the consequences of those actions as well as the impact of other peoples actions on their own lives. Trying to cope with whatever suffering we will all inevitably have to cope with (loss of a parent, loss of a relationship, etc.) over the course of time and not allowing that suffering to define who we are for the balance of our lifetime is the ultimate trial we all must endure. It is simply a part of life.

The film was well done with elaborate sets, songs, set-pieces, and fine acting overall. On the other hand, Into the Woods is also far darker than your average Disney flick to say the very least. Not a bad thing by itself, but, the rating of PG is far too low in my opinion. The deaths in the film pile up quite a bit. The leering of The Wolf at Little Red Riding Hood was a bit much for me as a parent. I mean I get the metaphor surrounding the word “hunger,” but it was too much.

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Steven Gahm

Financial analyst by day. Film fan by night. Book that changed my life, "The Hobbit". Proof that the bible, by Tarantino, is a good read: "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy My brothers. AND YOU WILL KNOW MY NAME IS THE LORD WHEN I LAY MY VENGEANCE UPON THEE.

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