Summary:
Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom, some of its denizens had their own wishes. A baker and his wife wished for a child, a girl named Cinderella wished to attend a royal festival, and a boy named Jack wished his cow would give milk. When a witch revealed to the baker and his wife about the exact reason they were unable to have children, the pair are sent on a quest to retrieve items to lift an evil curse. When the characters need to go into the nearby woods to fulfill their wishes, their lives are forever changed, and they discover that not all wishes are what they're cracked up to be...
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Much like my previous review of Saving Mr. Banks last year, this is a review of a movie that came out late in the Philippines. Thank you Manila Film Festival.
At any rate, Into the Woods is a Disney movie adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name. The original musical was created by Stephen Sondheim (The same mind Sweeny Todd), and released in 1987. It was released to critical acclaim during a time when Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera was the big hit on Broadway. It basically integrated various fairy tales like Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack & the Beanstalk into one world, and had their stories play out at the same time. The first act of the play focused on the resolution of these various tales, all connected by a single scheming witch, mysterious woods (hence the title), and a baker & his wife on a quest. The second act conversely takes place happily ever after and sees the fallout of everyone's actions from the first act.
When it comes to Broadway productions or musicals, my experience with them is limited. Sure when I was a kid I watched the a showing of the Broadway Beauty and the Beast in Washington DC, but I don't remember too much of it. In high school I performed in a child's workshop rendition of Cats (As Rum Tum Tugger), and in college I performed in a rendition of The Fantasticks (As Mortimer). Finally a few years later I watched my university's rendition of Spring Awakening. Otherwise, I'm mostly exposed to stage musicals or Broadway productions by their soundtracks and adaptations. Phantom of the Opera, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita, Sweeney Todd, Avenue Q, and Book of Mormon are examples of this.
Into the Woods was one that I've never heard of until recently. A friend of mine actually told me about it when we were talking about our personal movie lists for 2014, and then he told me the basic premise of the story. The connection of the fairy tales really got me intrigued, and I decided to make it a point to see it. And now that I have, I'm happy I saw it. The setup was a very good idea, and I felt the cast did good in their roles. The humor in this movie is very diverse, sarcastic, and dark, and despite a few hiccups, overall I thought it was very enjoyable...
...until the second act of the movie. But let's get into more detail.
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I only recognized a few names from the cast, but as I said I felt they all did their roles well. Lemme discuss the names I do know. First is the top billing actress of the lot, Meryl Streep. What really can be said about Meryl Streep as an actress? She is arguably one of the best that have ever existed. She has acted and produced so many movies to count, and probably has a shelf that is filled with nothing but Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and other trophies for her film work. To date I have only seen the following movies that featured her: Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Devil Wears Prada, The Ant Bully, Mamma Mia!, and of course Into the Woods. She also guest-starred in The Simpsons as a one-off character. For my personal preference, The Devil Wears Prada and Into the Woods are probably the best movies I've seen with her because it showcases Streep's wide acting range. In The Devil Wears Prada, Streep's character was Machiavellian, no-nonsense, serious, and tragic. In Into the Woods, her character as the Witch is completely lovably insane, always trolling the baker and his wife.
"Meryl Streep" on Saturday Night Live
Next is Emily Blunt, whom I've only seen in a handful of movies (Like The Devil Wears Prada. Again.), but I've certainly heard of her. Her role as the baker's wife had her portray a determined, loving wife to the irate, at-wit's-end baker who had her fair share of comedic moments and heartwarming scenes. It was sad and unexpected to see what happened to her character by the end of the movie.
Then there's Chris Pine. As a Sci-Fi nerd, I know Chris Pine best from the two most recent Star Trek movies, but I've also seen him in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (One of his earliest films), and Rise of the Guardians. In Into the Woods he plays one of the royal princes, specifically the love interest of Cinderella. While he does OK in the scenes he's in, it's in his song "Agony" where Chris Pine really shined and was memorable.
Lastly, there's the ever lovable, arguably overused Johnny Depp, playing a very brief role as the Big Bad Wolf that menaces Little Red Riding Hood. He was just...there. Not a whole lot to say about his role. He wasn't good or bad, he was just...there. This is probably the only casting in the movie I question because the role of the Big Bad Wolf could've been played by any male actor and it wouldn't make a difference. Johnny Depp's casting almost seems as if he was just gotten for marquee value. If that was the case then it was unnecessary. Meryl Streep already has enough attraction value for that. Not dissing Johnny Depp, he's a fine actor and everything, but it just seems that they're intent on making the statement of "Johnny Depp is in every movie" true.
The rest of the case ranges from good to OK as well. Also, props to the two kids playing Jack and Little Red Riding Hood, they managed to pull off acting and singing.
The story is, unfortunately, where I had major problems with the movie. As I hinted, I felt the first act of the movie where we follow the various characters interacting together when they go into the woods is all just great. The very idea of crossing all these fairy tales together and weaving their narratives into a bigger whole is a really wonderful and novel idea. People just eat crossovers up, and I am no exception. Heck I write two crossover fanfiction on fanfiction.net: Tangled Adventures in Arendelle (Frozen/Tangled) and The Big and The Incredible (Big Hero6/The Incredibles).
Having the witch who cursed the baker and his wife be the same witch who hid Rapunzel in a tower was a good concept. There were a few problems of pacing, and I kind of felt that there were just a little too many songs for no reason, but I understand that's just personal preference. I've never seen or listened to the original Into the Woods, so maybe those who have do like the songs. The pacing is also likely a downside of translating a stage musical onto film, as this problem also similarly plagued the film adaptation of Les Miserables.
The climax of the first act where the curse is lifted, all the characters get their resolutions, the evil characters get their comeuppance, and seeing their happily ever afters, was a really great conclusion to the first act. If the movie had ended then and there, I would have given it a pretty good rating and praising how it takes the concept of combining the fairy tales, with some very humorous bits that ranges from cheesy to sarcastic. I would have given it a 3.6/5 just for that...
Goes to show how much I knew about the original Into the Woods, because upon researching, I realized was wrong. VERY wrong. It's the second act where the story really goes into twisty territory and the characters suck up to their actions from the first act. This is where the deconstruction of the fairy tales begins, where the characters are given more depth, there's a discussion on black-and-white morality, and certain characters meet their end. In concept, I really do like that idea. The idea of dissecting these fairy tales, playing against tropes, and discussing bigger issues that are not often discussed in them is very atypical of us people living in our present era. Not all stories have two sides. There are multiple angles to look at these, and characters to analyze from different points of view. Again, I don't mean to sound like a broken record, it's one of the reasons why I really love Frozen. The fact that it's Disney that's the one doing this deconstruction through making and distributing this film is extremely fitting after they've been changing up their formula (Frozen and Maleficent, the latter to a lesser degree).
The execution of it in this film adaptation though failed for me. All the more disappointing considering that Sondheim himself approved of the changes done in the film adaptation. Maybe it's because I don't know too much of the man's style, or maybe it's because I've never seen the original version, but I just felt that the second of act of the film adaptation really drags it down. The pacing was too fast, making us unable to fully acclimate to the new status quo of the characters and their new situation. Apparently in the original version, some time passes in-between the two acts. In the film version, things happen immediately in a span of seconds, and as a result we don't get to relish the happy ending of the characters or feel their loss and confusion as the female giant comes down and wrecks the kingdom.
Another problem I had with the second act was how certain things were either given a hand wave away or abandoned. To be specific, Act One had some focus on Rapunzel, whom we discover is the baker's sister. In Act Two she supposedly is suffering a breakdown because of the treatment of the witch and keeping her locked up. Then all of a sudden she and her prince just...leave the story. It's a very odd choice considering that in the original play, Rapunzel had a much bigger role...and she ended up being squashed by the female giant in Act Two.
The songs are, unfortunately, not that memorable for me. A critique of Sondheim's songs is that they're not the type of tunes that are really hummable, focusing much more on wordplay, or counterpoints that carry the songs together. And of the songs I do remember in the movie that's certainly true. Unfortunately for me that has the side effect of the songs ending up taking too much time for the movie to progress or move on. It's a critique I also had with Les Miserables. The songs in that movie were not badly composed or sung (Russel Crowe notwithstanding), it's just that there were too many songs that ate up a ton of time, especially if they were songs that could be summed up in short amounts of dialogue.
I found myself chanting this in my brain during some of the songs of the movie
There are really only three songs I remember from the movie. The first is the opening song (Act One Prologue), which outlines the problems of all the protagonists in the movie and has good blending among the singers. "Agony", sung by Cinderella's and Rapunzel's prince, which features some very hilarious wordplay and hammy acting from Chris Pines, and Act 2's "Your Fault", which has all the major characters pointing fingers out each other and blaming them for situation in a very fast-paced way. I can barely remember the rest of the songs, and that's a real pity because I really want to like Sondheim's work. They say the man is truly a genius when it comes to songwriting. Maybe if I watch more of his work I may like it, but for now, most of the songs in Into the Woods just didn't do it for me, and I felt that some of them could have been cut out.
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Final Thoughts:
All in all, despite my major disappointment with Act Two, I don't regret seeing Into the Woods. I like the idea more than the execution, and I wish Act Two was done differently, but Act One was very enjoyable. It has a good cast with no bad acting, a lot of funny moments, and some memorable songs scattered throughout. I hope that there are some folks who like Act Two and the second half of the movie once it gets there, but it's far from terrible. There's nothing really offensive or downright bad in the movie, the movie's quality for me just dips from being very good to just above average.
My score: 2.8/5
Best song: Your Fault
Worst song: None are bad, but most of them are forgettable
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Trailer Thoughts:
Shaun the Sheep: The Movie-Meh. I've seen one or two of these shorts, and they're decent for what they are. But can they really hold a movie? Not going to see it in theaters.
CHAPPiE-Looks to be about a movie that has a robot built for utility and work, but ends up taking a life of its own only for it to be discriminated against as the movie progresses. Reminds me a bit of Bicentennial Man and Short Circuit. I wonder what'll be different about this one, though? Not going to see it in theaters.
Tomorrowland-Appears to be based off the theme park of the same name in Disney World. I admit I can't find a whole lot to talk about because this trailer was very ambiguous. In this age of trailers that spell out things for you, I can really appreciate that. Very intriguing. May see it in theaters.
Unbroken-A real story based off an Olympic star who fought in World War II and was held in a Japanese POW camp. Not much else to say. Not going to see it in theaters.
The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron-Oh heck yeah. It's very hard to believe that this is going to come out already. Seems like yesterday when Avengers 1 was out. It goes without saying I'm a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Asking if I will see this movie in theaters is like asking if Pope Francis is a Catholic. OF COURSE I'm going to see it in theaters.
Cinderella-A very big meh on this. As much as I like Disney when it comes to animation, their live-action work as of late has been a very mixed bag. Not going to see it in theaters, even though the "sequel" to Frozen, Frozen Fever, will be attached to it.
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Some time next week before Thursday will be Part 2 of my Chinese New Year Special, "My Top 15 Fictional Goats/Sheep/Rams". But in-between all that, I'll be posting a tie-in review for Valentine's Day about a movie that very recently came out!
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AND GOOD LORD, IT'S GOING TO BE PAINFUL!
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