Screened Out – Into the Woods

[four-star-rating]Meryl Streep, James Corden, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Johnny Depp, Lilla Crawford, Daniel Huttlestone, Christine Baranski, Tracy Ulman, Lucy Punch, Tammy Blanchard, Mackenzie Mauzy, Billy Magnussen[/four-star-rating]

If Stephen Sondheim’s famous, complex musical teaches anything, it’s to be careful what you wish for.

Sondheim fans have wanted a movie version of this show for a long time. Into the Woods gets the Disney treatment, with Chicago director Rob Marshall at the helm. It sounds like it could either be a fairy tale or a nightmare. It’s mostly successful – a charmer, with amazing performances, a lush score, rich lyrics, and a fantastical world. The actors seem to be having a blast, and many audiences will, too.

Anna Kendrick and Emily Blunt are magnetic, singing and acting.
Anna Kendrick and Emily Blunt are magnetic, singing and acting.

That’s not to say it’s all sunshine and lollipops. For people wanting neat, tidy stories, the second half of Into the Woods has always been troublesome – a very adult version of kids’ stories. (I myself think these Grimm tales need to be…well…grim, or what’s the point?) The ending has never been nearly as witty or complex as what precedes it. On top of that, Marshall and writer James Lapine – adapting his own book – introduce a few oddball tangents into the film.

In 1987 – long before Once Upon a Time and Wicked changed children’s classics – Sondheim and Lapine presented Broadway with a show that transformed several well-known fairy tales. Because this is Sondheim (Sweeney Todd), he and Lapine made sure nothing ended happily ever.

Some things are still familiar, though; Red Riding Hood (Crawford) is, of course, trying to get to Granny’s house, and Cinderellla (Kendrick) wants to go to the Prince’s ball. Jack (Huttlestone) has to sell his beloved cow for those fateful magic beans. Rapunzel (Mauzy) is locked in a tower in the forest. These legendary characters all collide when the Baker (Corden) and his wife (Blunt) go into the woods to undo a curse set by a witch (Streep).

Chris Pine adds the comedy, some of the most entertaining moments in this film.
Chris Pine adds the comedy, some of the most entertaining moments in this film.

The Bakers must procure 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. Thus, all the classic stories get tied together with a new one.

Sondheim’s tunes and Lapine’s original idea have always had massive chemistry. Marshall adds a few magical moments – particularly a scene where the action freezes so that a character can think and sing a soliloquy. Unfortunately, this absolutely awesome idea is used only once. Then the movie utilizes shadow play, live people being cut out of an animal’s belly, ghosts, cheap silk as a major set piece, and children stealing clothing from corpses. Some of these problems exist with the stage show – an art that can be more figurative than literal. These issues didn’t need to be compounded in the film by weird choices.

It makes for a great movie that occasionally misses unity.

A perfect example is Johnny Depp’s portrayal of the wolf that eats Red and her Granny. Instead of going with a more literal wolf or a hybrid, Depp as costumer Colleen Atwood (who is otherwise brilliant, worthy of Oscar attention) make serious missteps. It’s too much a change. Depp is put into a Tex Avery style zoot suit. The make-up and the 1940s clothing make Depp’s whole portrayal mismatch the rest of the film, a Renaissance mishmash barely borrowing from other periods.

[rating-key]

There’s also a sense that Disney softened some edges – deaths and infidelities are more figurative and, unfortunately, somewhat vague. Some characters killed off in the stage show survive this movie version.

The other aspects shine – especially the sumptuous music and Sondheim’s witty lyrics. For many of us, these moments in the woods will make this musical memorable. Streep is nuanced as the Witch, worthy of another year of multiple award nominations. Kendrick’s vocal work soars. Corden and Blunt have cozy, affable voices and portrayals. Pine and Magnussen play charming princes obsessed with romance and challenges; their “Agony” is the entertainment high point of the film.

Finally, Into the Woods always gets people to thinking – an incredible feat for a musical. Sondheim shows always have. Furthermore, Lapine’s examination of the stories we tell ourselves is more relevant today. With charisma and talent, this movie version is well worth all our wishing.

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