Movie Review - INTO THE WOODS

About the movie

Into the Woods is a 2014 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, and adapted to the screen by James Lapine from his and Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. It features an ensemble cast that includes Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Lilla Crawford, Daniel Huttlestone, MacKenzie Mauzy, Billy Magnussen, and Johnny Depp. Inspired by the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales of "Little Red Riding Hood", "Cinderella", "Jack and the Beanstalk", and "Rapunzel", the film is a fantasy genre crossover centered on a childless couple, who set out to end a curse placed on them by a vengeful witch. Ultimately though, the characters are forced to rectify the consequences of their actions.

After several unsuccessful attempts by other studios and producers of adapting Into the Woods to film, Walt Disney Pictures announced in 2012 that it was producing an adaptation of the musical, with Marshall directing and John DeLuca serving as producer. Principal photography commenced in September 2013, and took place entirely in the United Kingdom, including at Shepperton Studios in London.

Into the Woods held its world premiere at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on December 8, 2014, and was released theatrically in the United States on December 25, 2014. The film was both critically and commercially successful; it grossed over $171 million worldwide and received praise for its cast, tone, and production merits. Into the Woods received three Academy Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Streep), Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, as well as three Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actress (Blunt), and Best Supporting Actress (Streep).

My Opinion:

As most of you know I’m a big musical fan. No wonder I was really excited to finally see

Into the Woods in the cinema. It took the movie long enough to come to Switzerland. I’ve seen so many comments and reviews already from all over the world and I got really impatient.

Our theatre group performed it back in 2000, I was 11 years old, but I still had some memories of it, especially of the scenery, the props and the songs. My mum was the evil stepmother and lots of my theatre friends were part of it. We all went to see the movie together, which was great.

As a whole, the movie was brilliant! Great actors, wonderful singing and acting and the effects and scenery were great. Now let me talk a little about the roles.

Meryl Streep did an outstanding job as the witch; it was a pleasure watching her. I was really surprised with Emily Blunt’s singing and her acting was superb again, she really stood out in my eyes. With James Corden as the baker, they made a great couple, with so much chemistry. James did an outstanding job. Anna Kendrick is the perfect Cinderella in my eyes and I just love watching her. Daniel Huttlestone and Lilla Crawford were just brilliant, they are so young and the songs are so difficult, but they have a real talent. I liked both princes very much. I liked Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen before, but now... <3 I thought that compared to Billy, Chris’ singing was a little weaker, but he was still great. My favourite thing in the movie was their song „Agony“, brilliant acting, hilarious and sooooo sexy – my god!!! Billy looked amazing in these trousers. Oh, ahm, sorry, back to the topic. MacKenzie Mauzy was a super sweet Rapunzel, I really liked her. Unfortunately, I didn’t like Johnny Depp in this movie, he was the wolf. I don’t think he made a great wolf, his singing was weak and the costume was just strange, ridiculous actually. He didn’t look like a wolf at all, more like a shy little cat.

Stephen Sondheim is a brilliant composer. His lyrics are so clever and the songs are just marvellous. The actors did a fantastic job, because these songs are definitely not easy and they still had to act. Sadly, a lot of scenes and important songs were cut, which is a pity, but also understandable considering the length of the movie.

The effects and the locations seemed very authentic and they made a great picture as a whole. Into the Woods is definitely a movie I recommend seeing, especially if you like music and fairy tales. The connection of these popular fairy tales is so clever and it gives the story a unique spark.

The Trailer