INTO THE WOODS
DIRECTOR: Rob Marshall
CAST: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Chris Pine, Anna Kendrick, Johnny Depp, James Corden, Tracy Ullman, Mackenzie Mauzy, Billy Magnussen
CLASSIFICATION: PG
RUNNING TIME: 124 minutes
RATING: 3 stars (out of 5)
Theresa Smith
THIS IS more “if you go down to the woods today” than “don’t go into the woods”, but, as family fare goes, it is appealing, fun and funny.
The film blurb reads: “humourous and heartfelt”, so you need to realise that anything you might have considered risque, or downright weird about the staged musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, is about to be censored and smoothed out Disney-style.
Still, on the plus side, they touch on some very difficult emotions like grief, insecurity and abandonment. Plus, they gently send up the very genres the story is set in – fairy tales and musicals.
For this film feature, the Grimm fairy tales Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood are woven together around the story of a baker (Corden) and his wife (Blunt) who desperately want a child. They agree to a wicked witch (Streep) sending them on a quest to find three magical items in return for a child, and, well, it is a fairy tale and we know that means things are not going to work out how they want.
The imagery is familiar to what we know from our childhood stories – Jack’s mother (Ullman) throwing the beans away in a fit of pique, Rapunzel (Mauzy) letting down her hair for her prince (Magnussen) to ascend the golden stair, Cinderella (Kendrick) fleeing from her prince (Pine) who picks up her slipper.
But, they subvert the imagery every now and then, like just why did Cinderella leave behind the slipper? And, the film-makers even go back to the original source material with some of the storyline, like what Cinderella’s stepsisters do to make the slipper fit is decidedly Charles Perrault.
Sets are stylised, with a dramatically foreboding forest (thanks to the lighting) and detailed costuming and art design. Visuals are arresting with each scene worthy of a picture in a storybook.
It is ultimately a musical, so more than half of the story is told through the medium of song, and while Meryl Streep impresses mightily with her rendition of Stay With Me, Pine and Magnussen are hilarious as the two brother princes when they sing Agony – comparing the misery of unrequited love – while trying to out-prince each other.
The musical sequences are huge, perfectly choreographed and great fun – everyone chosen has a strong voice – and Blunt and Corden ably anchor the film as quick-witted wife and naive, but very sweet husband. Everyone is clearly having tons of fun, especially Pine who gets the best line: “I was raised to be charming, not sincere”.
Almost as if all the sweetness and potential happy endings was getting the film-makers down, three-quarters of the way through the film takes a dark turn and people start dying. Gasp. The horror. Don’t worry, it is implied, not actually shown and that pretty much sums up the film. As long as it is sending itself up, it is fine, but once the director takes it too seriously, it starts unwinding. Still, the musical numbers and sheer spectacle and size of the production keep it together.
If you liked Mamma Mia! or Chicago you will like this.