Into The Woods (2014) - The original tales in a single complex but not chaotic story

Review : 0003
Title : Into The Woods

Year : 2014

Director : Rob Marshall

Country : United States

World’s Verdict : Rotten Tomatoes – 71%; Metacritic – 69 out of 100; IMDB – 6.0 out of 10.0.

My Verdict : 3.7 out of 5.0.

It was after watching the film and checking Into The Woods in Wikipedia that I learned that this film was based on a musical by Stephen Sondheim.  At first I thought that Disney was pretty smart to stitch a story from different fairy tales, sort of like what was done in Shrek.  I was really surprised when I learned it was based on a musical from the 80s.  Imagine that.

I admire the creativity embedded in the plot.  Fairy tale characters meeting in the woods, each one having a different agenda.  Jack (in the beanstalk) wanted to sell his cow, the witch from Rapunzel wanted to be young again, a couple wanted to have a child, Cinderella wanted to go to the ball, Little Red Riding Hood wanted to visit her granny.  All of them crossed paths in the woods.  When I thought the story was about to end with a happy ending a new conflict began, the last thirty minutes of the movie seemed like a sequel.  I do applaud the writers of the original play.

In this review I will focus more on the performance of the actors.  Here are what I can say for each of them:

Meryl Streep as The Witch – No question that it was a good performance but does she deserve an Oscar nominee for Best Actress in a Supporting Role? Nah, I don’t think so.  1) Her role was not even supporting, she was one of the lead actors in the movie.  In my blog I decide if a role is a lead or a supporting one.  2) Her portrayal reminds me of a cross between her Mamma Mia! and Death Becomes Her characters.  She was okay in Mamma Mia! but terrible in Death Becomes Her.

Emily Blunt as The Baker’s Wife – Blunt was good in this film.  I adored her when she wanted to be a mother in the film, got worried for her when she started to fall into temptation and got sad on what happened to her at the end.

James Corden as The Baker – His acting was a little gayish in the first part of the film then became more masculine in the latter part.  He reminded me of Jack Black in this movie and I think Jack Black would have been better for this role.

Anna Kendrick as Cinderella – She did not fit the role.  She sounded a little pitchy, too.  She did not even feel the role.  It almost was a lazy acting.  She was like a singing Kristen Stewart, you just don’t get too much expression on her face.

Daniel Huttlestone as Jack – This boy’s good.  I believe he is my favorite character in the film.

Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood – She was annoying at first but she sang very well so you will eventually forgiver her.

Chris Pine as Cinderella’s Prince – He was actually good in this film and he had a good singing voice, too.

Johnny Depp as The Wolf – The problem with this role for Depp was that I saw him as Johnny Depp and not The Wolf.  If I see more of the actor than the character that means it’s either bad makeup or bad acting.

Tracey Ullman as Jack’s Mother – Good.

Billy Magnussen as Rapunzel's Prince – He was okay, too.

Christine Baranski as Cinderella's Stepmother – She was perfect for this role.

MacKenzie Mauzy as Rapunzel – Why didn’t she sing in the movie?  Her character was essential to the story but seemed useless because she was the only one who did not sing.  Her character wasn't well thought of.  She cried a lot, ran away during an earthquake because she was scared (who wants to be alone during an earthquake?).  She did not even meet her brother (The Baker), there was no closure on that one.  I just didn’t grow to love her character in the film.

Fairy tales are actually gruesome stories that became child-friendly over time.  The original Rapunzel fornicated with the Prince, and her prince was blinded by the witch.  One of the original versions of Cinderella tells how the step-sister cut parts of their feet to fit the glass slipper and how the birds of Cinderella pecked their eyes for revenge.  I liked how these details were incorporated in Into The Woods it shows that the writers relied on the original fables rather than sugar-coated Disney fairy tales.  Into The Woods, just like original fairy tales, is a story for adults but became friendly when it became a Disney film.

Did I like the movie?  Yes, but not so much.  Am I going to watch it again?  Not in the near future.  Would I recommend it to you?  Yes, but don’t expect too much from this movie.