Monday Movie Review: Into The Woods

IMDB Blurb:
"A witch tasks a childless baker and his wife with procuring magical items from classic fairy tales to reverse the curse put on their family tree."


Review (very minor spoilers):
I just went to see this movie and I was... was perplexed isn't exactly the right word... it was definitely a different movie with many familiar faces.  I had no idea Anna Kendrick was playing Cinderella which really surprised me when I saw her on the screen.  Johnny Depp also played a part (the wolf) which was a perfect role for him.

The beginning didn't seem as well put together as it could have been.  It seemed a bit thrown together as though the producers/directors didn't really know how to go about getting into the story.  However once you got into the story, it was quite good.  I really liked how they used the baker and his wife to connect all the characters.  Even better was how very few of the characters actually had names.  You just had to know them from their fairy tales.

That's another thing: they did take a few liberties with the different stories to connect them but I actually liked the changes they made.

I thought each of the actors did an excellent job with the role they were given and everyone seemed to fit their role very well (Johnny Depp in particular).

The special effects throughout the movie were very well done as well except for one part where Red Riding Hood and her granny are in the wolf's stomach... that could have been done much better.

As for the ending, I'm glad they didn't end it as a fairy-tale ending but I'm not sure I liked how dragged out the ending they did do was.  I don't really know how to explain it without spoiling but let's just say that it did come full circle and all but there were some pieces that just didn't fit.

I really liked the whole metaphor with the woods and how going into the woods is going into life's mysteries.  This became especially clear when the baker's wife says something like 'and sometimes you'll lose someone halfway through the wood'.  That was just a beautiful line.

As you might know, this is a musical and it was really nice that they didn't cast all the amazing singers but actually cast realistic people relative to their roles.  So Rapunzel is fabled to have an amazingly pretty voice as well as Cinderella with their connection to nature so the actors had amazing voices.  The baker and his wife were more down-to-earth although they still had very good vocals as well.

The Final Verdict:
Overall, I did enjoy this movie and it was relatively well done.  I really liked how they connected all the fairy-tales in an interesting manner and the woods metaphor made for a very nice onion movie!
4 stars