'Into the Woods' Review
'Into the Woods' is the newest adaption of a classic Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical from director Rob Marshall ('Chicago' and the much maligned, 'Nine'). 'Into the Woods' is the story of different aspects and characters from certain fairy tales interweaving to tell the tale of a baker and his wife who want nothing more than to receive the gift of a child from a witch played by Meryl Streep (a relatively unknown actress). Throughout the story the audience meets up with Jack and his Beanstalk, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel in a film that starts out with a boom but ends with nothing more than a fizzle.
One of the things I truly loved about Disney's new live-action musical was its cast. While some actors get more screen time than others, there isn't a true weak link in the bunch. Emily Blunt and James Corden are terrific as the baker husband and wife. Anna Kendrick seems to be having a lot of fun as Cinderella. Johnny Depp is suitably creepy as 'The Wolf' for the extremely short time that he's featured. Yet, the real standouts here are Chris Pine as Prince Charming and Meryl Streep as 'The Witch'. Each put their own spin on these generic characters. Pine adds a certain splendid douchebag-ness to the Prince much like that of Chris Sarandon in 'The Princess Bride'. Streep is just incredible and seems so immersed in her character. She also provides the film with some of its most emotionally satisfying sequences. I found the relationship between her and Rapunzel to be the most interesting.
The songs are all quite catchy, featuring some real stand outs like 'Giants in the Sky', 'Agony', and of course Streep's version of 'Stay With Me'. The dialogue had terrific segues into the songs unlike 2012's 'Les Miserable' where it's impossible to tell where the music begins or ends.
The movie is quite solid and well-paced for its first hour and a half, but then it goes off the rails in an anti-climactic third act. There seems to be a point in the flick where the director has full reign to go completely wacky, yet he doesn't. In fact, the movie becomes quite boring and overly dark for a picture that was so fun and full of childish energy in its first two acts. It doesn't help that Marshall continues to shoot the movie in a fashion that's trying to capture the look of a Broadway play far too slavishly when the script calls for blockbuster extravaganza battle sequence. Instead, we're treated to one of the the most glossed over climaxes I've seen in years.
Sadly, this lackluster third act made it extremely hard for me to love the movie the way I did when it started. Yet, it still features plenty of fantastic moments beforehand, and if you're a fan of musicals, Sondheim, or Fairy Tales there is still some good fun to be had.
Perhaps not worth full ticket admission, but probably one for your 'Netflix' queue.
Grade:B-
Review by: Josh McCormack
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