Into The Woods is the film adaptation of the musical fantasy Broadway play of the same name. The film brings together a few fairy tale characters in a story that revolves around the Witch (Meryl Streep) telling the Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt) to collect trinkets from various fairy tale characters, like Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Jack (Daniel Huttlestone), Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), and a couple others.
I'm a big fan of musical films. Les Miserables is unashamedly my favorite film of 2012, and this is almost sort of in that same style, with more than half of the dialogue being sung. I wasn't hyped for this movie, but I was still interested in seeing it. I was pretty sure I was going to have a blast watching this, and I'm happy to say I wasn't disappointed.
This movie is so charming and fun. It's definitely a movie the whole family would appreciate. It's definitely not a sad and dramatic musical like Les Miserables. It's more lighthearted and fun, and there's nothing wrong with that.
You'll tap your foot and laugh with some of the songs in the film. Most, if not all, of the songs in the film were designed to be entertaining and funny to watch. There's a lot of creative set designs and costumes that really catch the eye, and that's almost an essential for fantasy films like this.
The cast is amazing too. Even though I was extremely doubtful that Streep's performance here was "Oscar nomination worthy", I have to admit she turned in one hell of a good performance (as she always does). She truly disappears into her character and she's a good singer too. However, the one who stole the show was Chris Pine as the Prince. Chris Pine is a Hollywood gem, man. This guy can be great, especially in fun and a little bit wacky roles like this. He just let's loose, and he's amazing. Emily Blunt and Anna Kendrick were really good in the film too. The little kid who played Gavroche in Les Mis is playing Jack in this film, and he was fine. It wasn't a very special performance. These actors just bring these fantastical characters to life on screen, and it brought me pure joy to watch.
The film doesn't have a lot going against it, but I had a few issues with it that I really want to point out. Firstly, a minor one, the casting of Johnny Depp. I know he's only in, like, around five to seven minutes, but man, were his scenes unbearable to watch. He plays the Wolf, and he just does it so creepily and he acts so weirdly. It's his gimmick to do that, he doesn't take these roles seriously anymore. He just puts on makeup and different hats and gives us different incarnations of Jack Sparrow over and over again, and it's tiring.
The biggest flaw I had with the movie was its pacing. The film is choppily paced. It would jump focus to different characters so randomly and without any real flow that it made the film very incoherent. It left a few characters and subplots undeveloped as well. There's one particular subplot that doesn't even fell connected to the main story at all, and I think even the writers knew this, so they literally sent those characters involved off away on a horse, like, twenty five minutes before the movie ended. A few other characters would leave the film in various anticlimactic ways as well. Also, some characters would disappear for a large portion of the film, and then all of a sudden reappear again. The pacing of the film is just so off and confusing that it's really hard to settle down with the film.
A lot of people have told me they hated the second half of this movie.While I agree, the film would've been better if it just ended at a certain part, I do think there are some redeeming qualities in the second half as well. There were some real good character moments for the four main characters towards the end, and that for me made it worth it. However, I do hate the fact that the last few minutes of the film take a huge turn for the worse, turning into one big random fantasy battle. It just feels so out of place compared to the rest of the movie, and it feels super forced.
Into The Woods is a really entertaining, funny, and charming musical. It's full of great actors playing fun characters singing catchy songs. The makers of the film do need to grasp the concept of how to edit a film, but if you're looking for a fun musical to watch, this is it.
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