Into The Woods (Movie Review)(contains spoilers)

Into The Woods

Movie Review

James Corden (Baker) and Emily Blunt
(Baker's Wife)

I've been anxiously anticipating this movie for months; I last saw Into The Woods as an 8- or 9-year-old and I honestly don't remember a whole lot of it. But I remember skipping around singing "Into The Woods" for months after the fact, and years later, the chorus of that song is still firmly stuck in my head. So of course, I made sure to see this movie as soon as possible. And overall, I really enjoyed it. It was not without its issues, but all in all, it was an excellent movie that I would love to see again (though of course it made me anxious to see the musical again!). It's absolutely impossible to mention every moment of this complex and character-filled film, so I'll just be touching on the parts that stood out to me.

James Corden (Baker) and Meryl Streep (Witch)

I was very impressed by the cast of this movie. Meryl Streep as the Witch surprised me enormously; she was absolutely wonderful and perfectly cast for the part. Her performance included a haunting voice, appropriately creepy acting, and an element of ironic humour. I loved it. Emily Blunt played a sympathetic, loveable Baker's Wife, though it felt a little one-dimensional at times. James Corden as the Baker also fell slightly flat, but I didn't find the lack of dimensions troubling. It fit with the emphasis in the movie on The Baker's father-issues. If they wanted to go for that angle, I think the Baker needed to be one-dimensional to make it work. His singing voice left something to be desired, but again, not a big deal. It didn't irritate me, anyway. Anna Kendrick was a beautiful Cinderella, with a well thought-out character, believable development, and a lovely voice. I particularly enjoyed her rendition of On the Steps of the Palace and No One Is Alone. Johnny Depp made a brief appearance as the Wolf; nice job, but not a lot to judge him on as he was only on screen for about five minutes. I really enjoyed Lilla Crawford as Red Riding Hood. Quirky, humorous portrayal, fabulous voice, and she looks absolutely right for the part. 

Mackenzie Mauzy (Rapunzel)

My main issue casting-wise was Daniel Huttlestone as Jack. He has a great singing voice (as evidenced in "Giants in the Sky") and his acting was decent. But his accent was absolutely incomprehensible at points (listen to "Your Fault" on the soundtrack - I'm decent with accents but his words are so mangled); some dialogue and any less-than-straightforward singing was mangled and impossible to understand. In this case, I think they should either have worked on toning down his accent (accents in this movie were all over the board; American, varieties of British - it was confusing at points, but only an issue when the accents were incomprehensible) or I'm sure there were other casting options. This was probably the low point of the movie for me.

One of the major highlights of the film for me was "Agony", where Cinderella's Prince (Chris Pine) and Rapunzel's Prince (Billy Magnussen) (brothers, as it turns out) bemoan the 'agony' of being unable to be with their loves. It involved a lot of sneering and mockery, a very competitive atmosphere, and lots of splashing around in water. It was absolutely hilarious; a much-needed comic break in an otherwise heavy and dark part of the story. In the end of it all, I felt more for Rapunzel's Prince and frankly was a bit disgusted by Cinderella's, but I loved this song and the performances both actors gave.

Anna Kendrick (Cinderella)

I also wanted to touch on a few of the changes they made to turn the musical into a film. First of all, I did not appreciate the chunks they cut out of "No One Is Alone". It's such a poignant song; it's best in its entirety. A change I did like is cutting out most of Rapunzel's storyline. I like that her ending was left somewhat obscure; the viewer can imagine that she, at least, got a happy ending (spoiler: according to the musical, she has the most unpleasant end). Leaving it out made the story much less complex and less depressing.


There was a lot of fuss about casting young teen Lilla Crawford as Red Riding Hood; the role usually goes to an older actress, as the musical's interactions between Red and the Wolf are (apparently) loaded with sexual innuendo. They've apparently toned this down for the film, and I think this was done effectively. "Hello Little Girl" still had an element of "Hey kid, I have some candy in my windowless van!" but it didn't feel wildly inappropriate (well, any more than it should have been). It was very much a scene that could be viewed from a few different perspectives. If you were looking for the (for lack of a better term) pedophilia in the scene, yeah, you could see it. If you wanted to take a more innocent /literal (i.e. the wolf is literally talking about food) perspective, you could see that. It wasn't black and white.

I really enjoyed Into The Woods and highly recommend it to everyone; unless you absolutely hate music, it really does have something for everyone. There's a variety of stories, characters, and scenarios and everyone can find something to relate to.