Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? No.
Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? Yes.
Secret ending? Yes, but a fake one.
Running time: 124 minutes (~2 hours)
“Into The Woods” is a musical fairy tale movie adapted from the stage production of the same name. It’s a mash up of four fairytales – “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Rapunzel,” “Cinderella,” and “Jack and the Beanstalk” – with a witch, and a hapless baker and his wife at the centre of it all. It features a star-studded cast of Meryl Streep (The Witch), Emily Blunt (The Baker’s Wife), James Corden (The Baker), Anna Kendrick (Cinderella), Chris Pine (Cinderella’s Prince), Tracey Ullman (Jack’s Mother), Christine Baranski (Cinderella’s Stepmother), Johnny Depp (The Wolf), Lilla Crawford (Little Red Riding Hood), Daniel Huttlestone (Jack), MacKenzie Mauzy (Rapunzel), and Billy Magnussen (Rapunzel’s Prince).
“Into The Woods” looks every bit a theatre adaptation – from the lavish sets to the flamboyant performances, from the bright stark colours to the whimsical characters, it already builds the expectation of a theatrical performance. It doesn’t disappoint by way of structure, but it could have utilised the film medium more instead of following the original show so closely. After all, you don’t get intermissions in movies, which is what was sorely needed, given the length of the film.
Highlights
Subtle humour
While it’s not technically a comedy, the movie does provide plenty of humour. The wonderful thing is the level of intelligent jokes made, and how the funnies are there for you to catch, rather than being forced on you. This supports the supposedly light-hearted nature and tone of the film.
Emily Blunt portrays a plucky Baker’s Wife
Emily Blunt gives a very enjoyable performance as a strong female character, without being overbearing in her independence and strength. She’s witty and sensible, and ends up being the pillar of strength for the Baker. Her flaws are also what makes her all the more fun to watch – it all makes sense when you see the different aspects of her character at work.
Stories are skilfully weaved together
It’s an interesting interpretation of the four fairy tales, and how they’re all connected through similar circumstances and the Witch. It integrates the two original characters, the Baker and the Baker’s Wife, and makes them seem an organic part of the fairy tales all along.
Letdowns
A slow beginning and a draggy pace
Although the film is a musical and there is impetus to start the movie with a bang, the musical number that opens the film rambles on forever. There may be alot of different plot points in the film, but you can’t help but feel it’s merely plodding along to the tune of the next musical number, rather than focusing on telling a proper story.
Unfocused story
Again, it’s fun to have four fairytales to play with, but without a central protagonist to anchor the film, it feels directionless. The Baker and the Baker’s Wife could hardly be called the main protagonists – rather, it’s an ensemble of protagonists that don’t join forces until much later in the film.
Seemingly random fates of several characters
The final fates of several of the characters seem to come completely out of the blue – where did those conflicts come from? What did they do to deserve their fates? Where is the set up for these occurrences? Without proper signposting, their endings seem to have been picked at random, perhaps through bingo.
Despite its flaws in structure and adaptation to the big green, “Into The Woods” is still an entertaining musical that combines strong colourful visuals with strong performers.
“Into The Woods” opens in cinemas 15 January, 2015 (Thursday).
This review was also published on Yahoo Singapore.
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