Into the Woods [PG]

Once upon a time, in a far off kingdom, there lay a small village at the edge of the woods. There, there lived a young scullery maid who wished to go to the king’s ball, a poor lad who wished his cow would give milk, a young girl who wished for bread for her sick granny, and a baker and his wife who wished for a child. Their paths all intertwine as each of them journeys into the woods to fulfil their wish: the maid to see her mother, the lad to sell his cow, the girl to visit granny, and the baker to seek ingredients for a potion that will reverse the curse upon his house. Into the woods they go, but they are each different when the come out, if they come out. 

This was one of those films that I went to without any sort of background knowledge about it. Before Friday, I’d had no idea that this was a musical, let alone a Sondheim musical, a fractured fairytale, or indeed anything of the plot. On the off chance this proves to be the best way in which to go and see a film and this was one of those times. Within about five minutes of the opening prologue, I was completely hooked and I do believe that about fifteen minutes in, I had verbally articulated to my boyfriend that this movie “rocked like a hurricane”! So there you go. 

Once upon a time, in a far off kingdom, there lay a small village at the edge of the woods. There, there lived a young scullery maid who wished to go to the king’s ball, a poor lad who wished his cow would give milk, a young girl who wished for bread for her sick granny, and a baker and his wife who wished for a child. Their paths all intertwine as each of them journeys into the woods to fulfil their wish: the maid to see her mother, the lad to sell his cow, the girl to visit granny, and the baker to seek ingredients for a potion that will reverse the curse upon his house. Into the woods they go, but they are each different when the come out, if they come out. 

To draw out the unpleasantness earlier rather than later, there are a few places where this movie falls a little flat. The story itself is actually pretty loose and fluid and almost sloppily put together as fairytales go. It’s a mis-mesh of Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel, which is all well and good and the stories have been tampered with a little so that they may all intertwine, but it does leave something to be desired in the ways of intrigue. 

The characters are all ones that we are familiar with and thus they sort of become a little 2-dimensional because we have seen them or read about them time and time again. 

All this is not to say that this movie does not have its sparkle! The fact that the central characters and large chunks of the central plot are celebrated fables and fairytales that undoubtedly many of us have grown up with, dissipates the flatness of the story because that childish and innocent little sparkle of nostalgia sparks up and shines, blinding us a little to the brittleness of the film’s skeleton, and the viewing experience just becomes one of absolute innocent fun and shininess. 

The music is wonderful, admittedly very complex and Sondheim-y, with conflicting melodies doubling as harmonies and making up layers upon layers within the songs. Through the music a lot of the humour creeps in and the film’s nature as a fractured fairytale becomes just that little bit more humorous as well as sinister, and full of morals. Between the Wolf’s ‘Hello, Little Girl’, which is a step away from child-molestation, to the outrageously over-sincere and absolutely hilarious ‘Agony’ duet between the two princes, the entire score and soundtrack is wondrous and really shows off the chops of Streep, Kendrick, Huttlestone, Corden, Blunt, Crawford, Pine, and Depp. It’s magic and brilliant! 

The set design and art direction needs to be applauded because the woods themselves were really rather wonderful: beautiful, welcoming, sinister, and haunting. 

And Colleen Atwood deserves a little golf clap for her wonderful costumes… as always. Atwood truly is a wonderful designer! 

Starring Anna Kendrick, Daniel Huttlestone, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Christine Baranski, Tammy Blanchard, Lucy Punch, Tracy Ullman, Lilla Crawford, Meryl Streep, Mackenzie Mauzy, Billy Magnussen, Chris Pine, Frances de la Tour, and Johnny Depp, Into the Woods is a wonderfully entertaining fractured fairytale that ticks a lot of boxes. Filled with adventure, romance, magic, music, drama, and comedy, I absolutely adored it and eagerly await the day I can add the DVD to my collection!