Into The Wood's all-star cast pulled me into the cinema, but the only thing keeping me from walking out was the fact that I was watching it with a friend. If I was alone, I would've probably walked out, like some people actually did. It's the type of movie that I can definitely appreciate cinematically and admire, but it's missing a certain...warmth that I was expecting.
Let's get to it:
Spoiler Alert.
The film is set in the same time frame as a variety of fairytales such as The Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Cinderella. Throughout the film the characters from each tale cross paths and intertwine with each other's story lines. It all begins with a curse that the Witch (Meryl Streep) put upon the Baker (James Corden) and the Baker's Wife (Emily Blunt) that renders the husband infertile. To reverse the curse, the Witch requests 4 things for a certain potion to be made in 3 days time; "the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold." To retrieve these things, they must go into the woods, carrying nothing but 6 magic beans that the Baker's father stole from the witch years ago. They soon find the cow when a young boy, Jack (Daniel Huttlestone), sets off into the same woods to sell the cow. Without any money, the Baker and his wife offers 5 out of the 6 magic beans. Jack promises to buy the cow back and runs to his mother (Tracey Ullman) with the beans. She throws it away angrily, and overnight the beans grow into a giant beanstalk. Jack climbs it and meets two married giants. He steals a few gold pieces to buy the cow back which resulted in the death of the male giant, but the Baker and his wife refuses to sell it back. The Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) catches the attention of the Baker, and he tries to take her cape away but to no avail. It wasn't until he saved her from the belly of the Big Bad Wolf (Johnny Depp) that she offers it to him. The Baker's wife finds Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) in a tower and pretends to be her Prince (Billy Magnussen) to cut her hair off. The last item is the slipper as pure as gold, and the wife begs Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) to give it to her whilst fleeing from the Prince (Chris Pine) at midnight. The wife gives Cinderella the last magic bean as payment, but she throws it away. She steals the slipper. They have all 4 items, and the Witch tells them to feed it to the cow and gather his milk. But the cow did not produce any milk, because the Witch cannot touch any of the items of the potion, and Rapunzel's (the Witch's adoptive daughter) yellow hair is an ingredient. Jack suggests to use the yellow hair of a corn, and the cow produces milk, which turns the Witch back into a young woman. She keeps her promise and gives the Baker and his wife a child. Cinderella's Prince finds his one true love, Cinderella, and celebrates the wedding along with the kingdom.
The end.
No, not really. This is where the film began to drag on. Long story short, the single bean that Cinderella threw away grew into a beanstalk, and the wife of the deceased male giant climbed down and wreaked havoc in the kingdom. Everyone tries to find the giant in the woods, and when the Baker's wife and Cinderella's Prince bump into each other, they begin an affair. The giant wants Jack to compensate for the death of her husband, but Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack's Mom, the Baker and his Wife refuses to sacrifice Jack. They end up killing the giant, but in the process the Baker's wife and Jack's mother dies. The film ends with the Baker telling his baby son the story of the Witch and his adventures in the woods. And Jack, the Little Red Riding Hood, and Cinderella, lives with the Baker happily ever after.
Was that too long? That's because it was a little over 2 hours. The film itself was very enjoyable in the first act, but the second act (after Cinderella's wedding) felt too draggy. If the movie had ended there, I would've given it a positive review. The second act was like watching the aftermath of a trainwreck. Everyone wants to see the crash, but no one wants to see what happens after. It was prolonged to the point where some people walked out of the cinema, checked their phones, and started talking to each other. It was a completely unnecessary ending that should have been thrown on the editing room floor completely. Or the film could have been shortened into an hour and a half instead of the agonising 125 minutes. A movie that forces me to check my phone is a movie not worth watching.
And what was up with the scene with Cinderella's Prince and the Baker's wife? Why did they suddenly have an affair for absolutely no reason in the middle of the climax? I was dumbfounded. It was so off tangent with the rest of that film that it should have been scrapped from the original script. What a waste of time!
More than that, the film dialogue was almost all sung as recitative, like an opera. It reminded me of the 1964 French musical Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. And although I can tolerate that kind of musical, many might not. The trailer didn't specify it's recitative nature, and it probably caught the audience by surprise. In a bad way.
Now, director Rob Marshall have wonderful films such as Memoirs of a Geisha, Chicago and Nine under his belt, and this one didn't fail to impress. Cinematographer Dion Beebe worked with him for the aforementioned films, and also with Into The Woods. The pair proved once again that they can make anything beautiful; even if the story is dark and miserable.
The cast was great...for the most part. Anna Kendrick's role as Cinderella didn't stick. Kendrick's girl-next-door quality stuck out like a sore thumb in this fantasy film. She was supposed to be Cinderella yet she looked like someone dressed as Cinderella for Halloween. She is a very talented actress and I do love her work, but the juxtaposition between her modern-day facial features with the cast's Disney-like charm was distracting to me. She would have nailed the part if judged on her skills alone, but someone with a more classical appeal such as Carey Mulligan, Emilia Clarke or Dianna Agron would have done the part so much better. Anna Kendrick is beautiful in jeans and a t-shirt, but not as a Disney princess.
I also thought the contrast between Emily Blunt's regal beauty and the snub nosed James Corden wasn't quite believable. It wasn't that they didn't have chemistry, because they did, it was just that the pair wasn't very believable as a married couple. They were great together, but they didn't look good together. I would have kept James Corden as the Baker (he was brilliant) and perhaps replaced Blunt with Marguerite Moreau or Odette Annable.
Everyone else was on point, and need I say anything about Meryl Streep?
All in all, it was a good film, not a great film. It's a movie I wouldn't suggest you to watch, unless you truly love Disney movies. I give it a 6/10. Stephen Sondheim's score basically made the film. That man is a genius, and without him this musical would have fallen to bits.
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