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Movie review: Don’t expect a Disney ending as you go‘Into The Woods’
Without prior knowledge about the 1986 play that Disney’s new theatrical release “Into the Woods” is based on, it becomes a bit challenging to appreciate the film, much less understand the kind of message it sends and why events unfold the way they do in this mishmash of timeless stories.
Adapted from Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical production, “Into The Woods” brings together an all-star Hollywood cast to portray well-known and beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tale characters. The film follows the individual stories of a childless baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt), the fair maiden Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy), the beanstalk-climbing Jack (Daniel Huttlestone), the kind-hearted Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), and the naive Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford).The machinations of a powerful witch (Meryl Streep) cause their personal journeys to become intertwined, and as they all attain their hearts’ desires, they quickly realize that their happy endings might not be so happy, after all.
Magic that defies description
Magic that defies description
The biggest strength of “Into the Woods” is that it has the advantage of being pulled from insightful and intricately written source material. The narrative flowed smoothly for the majority of the film (more on that later), and the way the story was constructed—necessary deviations from the original fairy tales notwithstanding—truly made it believable that these characters not only existed in the same universe, but also crossed paths.
Additionally, the cast did a marvelous job at singing their parts and bringing their characters to life. The songs themselves were quite enchanting, though not as catchy and heart-tugging as the tunes from another fairly recent musical adaptation, “Les Miserables.” Streep and Corden stand out in particular, doing justice to their roles and clearly deserving of being at the center of the story. Johnny Depp makes an appearance in this film as the undeniably creepy Wolf, while Chris Pine plays the part of Cinderella’s Prince charmingly. Pine's character gets the most entertaining song number (and perhaps the best line of dialogue) in the film.
All photos from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International
Charming, not sincere
Sadly, as soon as the film reaches the third act, everything starts to spiral down quickly, both for the characters and the story itself.
Recently, Disney seems to have taken a liking to reimagining classic fairy tales and putting a modern spin on them (one of the most recent examples being the lukewarmly received “Maleficent”), and “Into the Woods” fits that profile quite well. However, much like the musical play it was adapted from, “Into the Woods” is anything but Disney material. The film took the liberty of rewriting and even omitting a few parts from the original production in order to make the story a bit more suited to Disney’s typical target audience; unfortunately, the shocking, bleak, and even amoral turns that the film’s third act take quickly turn the balancing act of source material faithfulness and Disney-fied magic into a disappointing mess.
Recently, Disney seems to have taken a liking to reimagining classic fairy tales and putting a modern spin on them (one of the most recent examples being the lukewarmly received “Maleficent”), and “Into the Woods” fits that profile quite well. However, much like the musical play it was adapted from, “Into the Woods” is anything but Disney material. The film took the liberty of rewriting and even omitting a few parts from the original production in order to make the story a bit more suited to Disney’s typical target audience; unfortunately, the shocking, bleak, and even amoral turns that the film’s third act take quickly turn the balancing act of source material faithfulness and Disney-fied magic into a disappointing mess.
To avoid further spoiling the film (or the play) for those who haven’t seen it yet but still plan to, let’s just say that “Into the Woods” is not a movie you would want to take your children or little siblings to. Meanwhile, older and more mature audiences might find some of the characters’ actions to be either incredibly annoying or morally disgusting. The “realistic” take on these storybook personalities goes against their traditional portrayals, and while this was the point of the original play, it seems to be quite ill-suited for a movie that falls under the categories of “Disney” and “fairy tale.”
Careful the things you say...
As parts of the original material had to be cut or modified, we are left with sequences that have either been rendered weak in terms of impact or just downright loopy and illogical. Furthermore, an important plot thread introduced early on in the film was never addressed, with the character in question just disappearing from the story altogether by the end of the second act. Moviegoers who are used to the typical style of film storytelling where significant plot points have some sort of payoff in the end may find this particularly off-putting, and may leave a bitter taste in their mouths the same way it did in mine.
Near the end of the film, Streep’s witch breaks into song: “I’m not good / I’m not nice / I’m just right. / I’m the witch. / You’re the world.” Those lines are perhaps an accurate representation of what “Into the Woods” seeks to achieve: A retelling of classics to turn audiences’ heads and make them face the harsh reality of the world and realize that “happily ever after” may not truly exist.
It just seems rather counterintuitive to do that, though, especially in a Disney production; after all, don’t we love our stories precisely because they offer an escape from reality? — VC, GMA News
