Review of Into the Woods (2014) by Joni S — 21 May 2015

Let me preface this by saying I've never seen the broadway musical, so I'm going to try to speak about this film on its own merits.

Great cast! Gotta Love Meryl Streep in particular (who doesn't?). She shows off her vocal range here and also manages to add a surprising depth of emotion in her portrayal of the evil witch. The songs are mostly gems -- with maybe two or three exceptions. Overall, this is some great Stephen Sondheim on display!

The cinematography and art design is top notch -- both emphasizing the dark and twisted take on these fairy tales. I'll have to note, however, that the lighting of the woods could use a bit more variety. Seeing as how most of the film takes place here, it's not hard to imagine audiences' eyes growing tired of the same, constant grey and blue hues. Also, Johnny Depp's wolf makeup could use a little less human characteristics and a bit more of the canine variety (I suppose it's a choice made to invoke the play?).

There are indeed some strange choices that the filmmakers make that leave me wondering if the budgets offered by Disney to make Into the Woods were a bit less than adequate. This being a fairy tale, many fantastical things happen. Jack climbs up his magic beanstalk and interacts with giants. A wolf eats a grandma and her grandchild whole. A female giant goes on a rampage through the human kingdom. There's a big, beautiful ball/festival. Unfortunately, the audience doesn't get to see any of these things. That's not to say that nothing happens in the movie, but the parts of our protagonists' journey that are depicted happen to be exceedingly more mundane than those that aren't shown.

While the method chosen to tell this story fits right at home on the stage, the medium of film should have a unique opportunity to show the audience some of the epic, fairy tale scenes that, on stage, are reserved for expository dialogue (or song in many cases). Truly a missed opportunity. Director Rob Marshal undoubtedly looks to the stage show as sacred and wishes to endue the film with winks and nods to the broadway experience. Honestly, a director who may have had much more success with this property would have been Julie Taymor (The Tempest (2010), Across the Universe). She has the ability to both craft stunning, cinematic imagery, and yet still whimsically play with design elements and tropes of the stage.

Overall, it's still quite an entertaining film. Everyone is likable here. Chris Pine deserves a special note though for his flamboyantly charismatic, narcissistic, prince charming. His musical number is one of the funnest moments of the movie. "Agony!!" Johnny Depp, however, is wasted. In fact, his five minutes -- or whatever it is -- of screen time has to be one of the biggest wastes of talent I've ever seen. I suspect a good chunk of the somewhat pedophilic Wolf's story has been excised here for the sake of toning down the material for the House of Mouse.