Into the Woods is about several different fairy tale characters, Cinderella (
Anna Kendrick), Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Rapunzel, all crossing paths in the mysterious woods due to a baker (
James Corden) and his wife (
Emily Blunt) trying to lift a curse brought on them by a witch (
Meryl Streep).
This isn't exactly the PG musical with classic fairy tales you would expect. There are actually several different darker tones going on. The main being "Be Careful what you wish for?" A majority of the characters get their happy ending half way through the movie and then realize that that's not what they wanted at all. Then there's some adultery, blinding, a giant who comes down from the sky going ape shit on the Kingdom, and people dying.
A large highlight of the film was the fantastic casting. Meryl Streep is outstanding as the witch. She's creepy, eccentric, an over protective mother, and holy fuck does she have
an amazing voice! She will more than likely get an Oscar nomination for this. Anna Kendrick was awesome as always. Johnny Depp as the somewhat pedophile wolf was oddly uncanny. Newcomer James Corden was great as the central character, the Baker, and I look forward to him
taking over the Late Late Show. And who knew that both Chris Pine and Emily Blunt could actually sing very well as the over acting Prince and Baker's wife respectively.
 |
The Brothers Grimm, however, were not in the musical.
|
Overall I really enjoyed this film. Though it felt like it was starting to drag on for a little (2 hour 5 min length) and slightly kidish at times, it is a family film after all, the amazing cast, adult themes, and enjoyable songs (ManChild is surprisingly a sucker for musicals) were more than enough to keep me interested and excited throughout the entire film. I give it 4 Princes tearing off their shirts mid-song out of 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment