INTO THE WOODS:
DISNEY MAGIC OVERLOAD SET TO
STEPHEN SONDHEIM SONGS, MERYL STREEP AND JOHNNY DEPP’S ACTING, AND A NEW TAKE
ON OUR FAVORITE CLASSIC STORIES!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
DISNEY
Anna
Kendrick, Chris Pine, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, MacKenzie Mauzy, Lilla
Crawford, Emily Blunt, and James Cordon as Cinderella, Prince Charming, The
Witch, The Big, Bad Wolf, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, The Baker’s Wife,
and The Baker in Disney’s Into the Woods
Hey kids, who wants to see a Disney movie? Who wants to see a Disney fairy tale movie? Well how about
a Disney fairy tale movie with all of
your favorite fairy tale characters together. You name it, Cinderella, Jack and the
Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood,
Rapunzel, sounds like a match made in
heaven, and it is.
Disney and director, Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, Pirates
of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) bring us their latest musical fantasy,
Into the Woods, based on the Stephen
Sondheim musical of the same name.
I’ve never seen Sondheim’s musical,
but I think this movie convinced me to check it out, especially since I’ve been
a long time admirer of Disney’s
movies. For many children, this is a dream come true, their favorite fairy tale
characters in one movie, it’s almost like The
Avengers of Disney…if Disney didn’t already own Marvel.
The story begins in a village far,
far away, where a young Baker (James Cordon-Starter
for 10, Begin Again, All or Nothing) and his wife (Emily
Blunt-The Adjustment Bureau, Looper, Edge of Tomorrow) dream of having a child together, unfortunately
they just can’t seem to make one. That is until they are visited by an old,
ugly, witch (Meryl Streep-The Devil Wears
Prada, The Iron Lady, August: Osage County) who once put a
curse on the bakery where the Baker’s father worked after he stole from her,
preventing them from ever having a child, due to the loss of her beauty.
She tells them in order to lift the
curse, they must bring her four things, a cow as white as milk, a cape as red
as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. So the Baker
and his wife are off on a journey to find the items needed to lift the curse.
While that’s going on, a beautiful
maiden named Cinderella (Anna Kendrick-Scott
Pilgrim VS The World, 50/50, Pitch Perfect) dreams of going to a
festival ball where she can get her “Happily Ever After”. Unfortunately her
evil stepmother (Christine Baranski-The
Birdcage, How the Grinch Stole Christmas,
Chicago) and stepsisters, Florinda
(Tammy Blanchard-Rabbit Hole, Moneyball, Blue Jasmine) and Lucinda (Lucy Punch-Ella Enchanted, Hot Fuzz,
Bad Teacher) forbid her from going to
the ball and leaves her at home with a lot of chores to do.
So she flees into the woods where
she finds her Fairy Godmother and makes a ball gown with gold slippers for her
and off to the ball she goes. While there she meets her Prince Charming (Chris
Pine-Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, Rise
of the Guardians), dances with him, and constantly flees from him due to
her claiming that she doesn’t belong with royalty.
Meanwhile, a young girl with a red
cape is on her way to grandma’s house, also coincidentally in the woods and she
encounters a foul creature known as the Big, Bad Wolf (Johnny Depp-Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet
Street) who at first seems nice and glad to meet Little Red Riding Hood
(Lilla Crawford), but unfortunately the wolf inside emerges when he eats her
grandma.
Also Prince Charming’s brother
(Billy Magnussen-Blood Night: The Legend
of Mary Hatchet, Happy Tears, Twelve), who is also a prince rides into
the woods (Just like everyone else in this movie!) and finds a tall tower which
houses a young maiden named Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy-The Bold and the Beautiful, NCIS:
Los Angeles, Forever), with very
long hair as yellow as corn, who also happens to be the “Daughter” of the Witch
(Okay, if you want to go ahead and make connections to Tangled, you go right ahead because this movie is just asking for
it!). Rapunzel’s prince guarantees he will see her again; let’s certainly hope
he does.
Cinderella and Little Red Riding
Hood eventually run into the Baker and wife and agree to help them lift the
curse, with the help of the white cow’s owner, a young boy named Jack (Danie Huttlestone-Les Miserables) who previously met the
Baker and had his cow traded for a bag of Magic Beans (Gee, what do you all
think happened?).
So the Baker, his wife, and their
newfound friends must bring all the items together, lift the curse, and make sure
everyone lives “Happily Ever After”.
Overall, Into the Woods is a very solid Disney
fantasy, although I’m not sure how closely it follows Sondheim’s musical, but
as a Disney movie, it pretty much
does everything you would expect from Disney,
but also throw in a few surprises along the way. The cast does a wonderful job
portraying these iconic characters we all know and make them into something
different and original, especially Meryl Streep as the Witch and Johnny Depp as
the Wolf.
Streep does a fantastic job
portraying the Witch and like most of the films I see her in, they always end
with me asking “How does she do it?” which is a very good question. Johnny
Depp, who previously worked with Tim Burton on an adaptation of Stephen
Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber
of Fleet Street back in 2007, despite having limited screen time in this
movie is very entertaining as the Wolf, you can tell just how creepy he is, but
also very charming and cynical at the same time, truly the act of a talented
man.
Besides the acting and directing, the
writing and humor are very witty as well, especially when they poke fun at the
fairy tales they’re referencing, the humor definitely resembles films like The Princess Bride, Shrek, and Disney’s 2007
hit, Enchanted.
So if you’re a fan of Disney, fantasy, or musicals, chances
are you’re going to love this movie. It’s like going to Disneyland except you don’t need an airplane to get there, just a
local movie theater showing Into the Woods.
I’m very glad I checked the movie
out, it certainly is a unique but altogether wonderful Disney fantasy. Just don’t be surprised if Once Upon a Time makes an episode based on this.
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