Movie Review: Into The Woods
January 10, 2015
Into The Woods
I always give spoilers so consider yourself warned. =)
Colleen’s Movie Review
Romance: I liked the sweet relationship between the baker and his wife and seeing Rapunzel and her prince and Cinderella with Prince Charming (Chris Pine) was fun but the parts where they fall in love was missing from the film. In fact, all the fun bits like the ball or the prince climbing the tower and meeting Rapunzel weren’t shown. You can visit Mitcccny to know about some family movies.
Special Effects: I loved the change from ugly to pretty when the witch broke the curse. Stared at her hair a lot after that and the costumes were really lovely. The giant was silly as was the damage she did. Loved the leaves changing into Cinderella’s gold dress.
What I Liked: The costumes, the cast, the music, the creativity of tying the fairy tales together. The singing was fantastic.
What I’d Change: The plot. The story was vague. If the point of the whole thing was “be careful what you wish for” then there needed to be a moral compass binding the whole thing together. Maybe the witch’s mother could have been a part of it and could have met each character giving them a little warning about the possible consequences should they choose unwisely. Then she could have been the one singing the great song at the end and it would have felt like at least someone in the film knew what they were doing. I ended up feeling frustrated with all the characters because of this.
Killing the giantess right after they sang about how she had friends and/or needed friends, too, felt wrong, and being able to kill her with a pebble to the brain was silly and too much like David and Goliath.
I don’t understand why, after the blame song, the witch killed herself. There was no purpose to her death. It seemed like someone decided that all the characters had to lose something to learn a lesson and thus random deaths and pain happened for no reason.
The Tagline:
I’m not sure if there is an official tagline but I supposed it would be, “Be Careful What You Wish For.”
Hunky Hero: Chris Pine, Johnny Depp, Billy Magnussen, and James Cordon were all the heroes of the tale with Chris Pine being the obvious eye candy. The sad part was that I didn’t end up liking any of them. They were flawed jerks with the exception of James Cordon who was a sweet baker but less than hunky.
The Villain: Meryl Streep did a great job though her endgame was confusing and pointless. Really liked Johnny Depp as the wolf but he didn’t get to do too much.
Best Line: Cinderella’s Prince: I was raised to be charming, not sincere.
This line fits the entire movie actually. Someone should have said the movie was raised to show off a winning musical score, not to make sense.
Charm without sincerity is not charm in my opinion. It’s a con.
Best Scene: Hands down it was when the two princes were singing about the agony of not getting their women and ripping their shirts open in a strutting prince contest trying to outdo/outwhine one another. Laughed. Out. Loud.
Recommended for YA Fans: If you like music and staring at Chris Pine then yes.
Compared to the Book: I wish I’d seen the play so I could compare it.
Trailer:
A Guy’s Perspective
Bio: I’m Colleen’s husband, Brad. I’m the youngest of four kids. I’ve been Deaf since I was five so I watch every movie with caption glasses. I love sports and reading (I’ll admit I’ve read Twilight but prefer thrillers like Jack Reacher). My favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip. I’ll never turn down a taco. I write poetry. My man credentials include: a high school career in wrestling, watching sports every time my wife is too busy to notice, a receding hairline, two repaired ACL’s, and a stockpile of Axe body wash.
Review:
Into the Woods
Knowing this was a fairy tale musical with some serious star power, I hoped to be blown away but I emerged from the theater feeling somewhat dissatisfied. The movie began well as various fairy tale characters–the Baker and his wife, Cinderella, Jack, and Red Riding Hood–expressed their wishes and longings. An ugly witch (Meryl Streep) informs the Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) that their childlessness is a result of a curse she placed on the baker’s father many years ago for stealing food from her garden. In order to break the curse, the couple agrees to supply the witch the elements she requires. A thick and dark woods is the common denominator that eventually brings all the fairy tale characters and the elements together, but not without tragedy and sacrifice.
While the acting was fine, I was not awed by the music or the lyrics. Music and lyrics in a musical are supposed to push a story along, but these were served like fillers without a specific aim or purpose. I did laugh when the two princes (Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen) sang “Agony” but again, this song did not seem to fulfill any purpose other than comic relief. Perhaps I was not as awed because the story lacked a logical cohesion and a rewarding closure. The writers attempted to unite the fairy tale characters, including the witch, in a common cause by defeating the Giant’s Giant wife, but this was not well executed and sort of fell flat, like the Giant sort of did. Neither did the writers attempt to explore the connections between the characters. For instance, the fact that Rapunzel (who was tangential to the plot) and the Baker were brother and sister was an interesting premise but never explored at all. Rapunzel simply disappears with her prince.
For a Disney film, I was a bit surprised by the lack of clear-cut morals. Johnny Depp seemed to be a disturbed pedophile who recently emerged from prison, the Baker’s wife makes out with Cinderella’s prince playboy, and Cinderella exacts vengeance on her stepsisters and stepmother by unleashing birds to gouge their eyes out. Really? The CGI effects were not impressive. This review is actually turning out to be more negative than I expected to give the impression that I hated it. But I didn’t hate it, I was just left confused. I love a movie that makes you feel intelligent and like you were taken for a ride, and this was not it.
I give this film 4 Hulk Smash Fists.
Brad
This entry was posted in A Guy's Perspective, Movie Review.
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