Disney's "Into the Woods" - REVIEW (SPOILERS!)

OUT NOW!
Based on: "Into the Woods" by Stephen Sondheim
Director: Rob Marshall
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

Starring: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Johnny Depp, Lilla Crawford, Daniel Huttlestone, Mackenzie Mauzy, Billy Magnussen, Tammy Blanchard, Lucy Punch, Annette Crosbie and Frances de la Tour


Words cannot describe how excited I have been for this film ever since I heard that DISNEY was releasing a film that COMBINES FAIRY TALES. I was sold. Now, being completely honest, I was not at all familiar with the Stephen Sondheim musical before it, I had heard a couple of songs but knew nothing of the storyline. I just knew it was a musical, it had an all star cast, and it sounded like the type of film that I wasn't going to forget.

I won't forget it for sure, but possibly for the wrong reasons.

So the basic outline of the story; in a fictional fairy tale setting, the Baker (played by the Gavin and Stacey star James Corden) and his wife (the wonderful Emily Blunt, of The Devil Wears Prada) are desperate for a child. However, it turns out that the local witch (the legend that is Queen Meryl Streep) has cursed the Baker's family and in order to break it so they can have a child, they must collect a number of objects before (you guessed it) MIDNIGHT. So off they trot, collecting a number of objects from favourite fairy tale characters whilst belting out some relatively forgettable musical numbers. 

So we have the combinations of the traditional Grimm fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood played by the brilliant child actress Lilla Crawford, fresh from the Broadway revival of Annie and Mr Johnny Depp as the Big Bad Wolf. I was particularly disappointed with this bit and the part that Johnny Depp played. For such an amazing, powerful actor, he was in the film for about 5 minutes, if that. It was such a good character portrayal, I wanted to see more of it! Poor Johnny. 

Next was Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack was played by Daniel Huttlestone, best known for smoving audiences as Gavroche in the film adaptation of Les Miserables. Despite his portrayal of Jack not being as great as Gavroche, it was still a great performance, as well as his mother, who was played by Tracey Ullman.

And finally, my favourite section of the whole film was the Cinderella part. As one of my favourite fictional characters of all time, Anna Kendrick and Chris Pine played Cinders and her vain, thick prince perfectly. Cinderella's song on the steps as she deliberates whether to run away from her prince or whether to stay with him was my personal highlight of the whole film (as well as Queen Meryl obviously).

As well as all of these, Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) and her prince (Billy Magnussen) were part of the Witch's storyline, and this was probably the most moving. The Witch has held Rapunzel in a tall tower to keep her protected from the world below. Rapunzel has obviously come of age, and wants to run off with the Prince, much to the Witch's anger. Meryl's powerful musical number in this section was great - another musical highlight.

So to put it bluntly (and avoiding giving too much away), the Baker and his wife manage to collect all the items, the Baker's wife magically becomes pregnant and the Witch is no longer and old and ugly witch but a stylish FABULOUS one. But this happy ending doesn't last for long, and that's when the film begins to get a bit strange, as it becomes less Disney and more traditional Grimm brothers. As the woods get darker and as the characters avoid being squished by the Giantess (Frances de la Tour), there are unexpected deaths and the film ends on a very weird note. However, as I said, I am very unfamiliar with the plot of the play so this is why I had no clue what was going on. 

The actors made the film for me; Emily Blunt stole the film with her Golden Globe nominated performance of the Baker's Wife and need I say more about the one and only Meryl, who has bagged herself yet another Oscar nomination for playing The Witch. The one actor that particularly surprised me was James Corden. I've always been a bit unsure of this man - he was amazing in Gavin and Stacey and ever since then, I've just imagined him as Smithy in everything I see him in (and we can't deny it, he's been in EVERYTHING) but as the titular character in Into the Woods, he was a great actor AND singer (who knew?) and I would have loved for him to be nominated for something this year!

So overall, the more and more I think about it, Into the Woods is a very special film. The storyline of the original Sondheim musical is unique and extremely Disney-esque, but in a certain way, it's not - it's much darker than any other Disney fairy tale movie, and it has a much more grown up feel to it. The all star cast didn't disappoint, the production design, the special effects, the costumes and the make-up were all excellent and I will most definitely be rooting for it at this year's Oscars. However, the thing I love most about musicals is the catchy, upbeat songs that I can't wait to download as soon as I come out of the cinema - Into the Woods didn't quite do that for me. Despite this, I will most definitely be watching it again. I mean, where else would I find all of my favourite childhood stories combined into one film with Queen Meryl Streep and King Johnny Depp?