'Into the Woods' Review

Into the Woods Review:

The Fairytale Avengers Assemble

BY IAN TAN

Reminds me a little of that Pan's Labyrinth poster  

           Into the Woods centers on a Baker and his wife, both of whom have been yearning for a child. Enter the Witch, who promises to grant the couple a baby if they are able to collect four magical objects for her before midnight within the next three days. Revolving around these characters are other beloved ones such as Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk), Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Prince Charming and the Big Bad Wolf (played by Johnny Depp). It’s all your favourite fairy tale characters in one movie. That’s right, it’s The Fairytale Avengers.

            Into the Woods is a return to form for director Rob Marshall after the lukewarm reception of his previous film, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. For the most part (about the first hour and a half of the movie), the film looks gorgeous. Set designs and costumes are all top notch, with excellent visuals and cinematography. From a production standpoint, Into the Woods excels.

Another aspect that Into the Woods excels in is its ensemble cast, with each cast member looking like they're having the time of their lives playing their roles. Chris Pine especially stands out, putting on a posh British accent as the ravishing Prince Charming. What’s more, he sings pretty well too. His song sequence with Billy Magnussen is sure to stick with you long after the film is over. Of course, the other cast members, namely Anna Kendrick (Cinderella), Emily Blunt (the Baker’s Wife), James Corden (the Baker), Daniel Huttlestone (Jack), Lilla Crawford (Little Red Riding Hood) and Meryl Streep (the Witch) are all fantastic in their respective roles, making use of their sometimes-small amount of screen time. Johnny Depp, however, comes off more as a pedophilic creep than a mean, big, bad wolf, which was slightly unsettling to watch at times.

Into the Wood's character roster

Speaking of unsettling things, the last 30 minutes or so of the film takes a complete detour from the events prior to it. The tone is suddenly darker and new themes such as being unfaithful in a relationship and the morality of killing are presented but never fully or properly resolved, resulting in some lose story threads and themes. Besides that, with this number of characters involved in a single story, it does get hard to keep track of all of them sometimes. At one point, I nearly forgot that Cinderella was in the movie. Also, certain characters get sidelined as a result of this character-overfill, namely Rapunzel and her prince. And something just kept me thinking that Emma Stone should’ve played Rapunzel…

Not Mad Hatter

Negatives aside, Into the Woods has a wonderful soundtrack, and unlike certain other film musicals (we’re looking at you Mamma Mia), the actors in this film sound like they can actually sing! I was skeptical about Johnny Depp’s and Chris Pine’s singing at first, but when their time came to shine, they sang rather well and it was entertaining to see them give their vocals a go. Personally though, I liked Daniel Huttlestone, who plays Jack, the most. His character was given some of the wittiest lyrics and he was the most likeable character in my opinion.

Overall, Into the Woods is a jolly good time at the cinema, until it tonally shifts towards the third act and makes you wonder if you still like it or not. But looking back, the first hour and a half of it was pretty excellent, extravagant and enjoyable, and for that, I’d recommend you giving it a shot.

Your cheatin' heart...♫

Final Verdict

Into the Woods gets 6.9 out of 10 stars – A fun time, just try to forget that last half hour.