INTO THE WOODS

Walt Disney Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 125 Minutes

Click below to watch the movie trailer of Into the Woods.



In Walt Disney Pictures Into the Woods, a childless baker James Corden and his wife Emily Blunt must find certain items for witch Meryl Streep in order for her to remove the curse that she had put on their family tree.

Based on the Tony Award winning Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim, and Directed by Rob Marshall, this live-action musical movie intertwines the fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood - Lilla Crawford, Cinderella - Anna Kendrick, Jack and the Beanstalk - Daniel Huttlestone, and Rapunzel - Mackenzie Mauzy, between Corden's and Blunt's original story quest of going into the woods for items from each of these fairy tale characters.

While I have never seen the theatrical production, Into the Woods seems well-adapted as a movie. It is a shame that due to the low budget, Director Rob Marshall decided not to shoot the movie in 3-D Adapting a stage production into a movie seemed perfect, especially moving the camera through the woods, as well as the direction/choreography of the artificial waterfall for the duet of Chris Pine and Billy Magnussen singing the song Agony. Actually I thought Chris Pine was much better as a singer than I thought he would be. Although several songs from the theatrical production were cut from the film, I love the ensemble cast of the movie with Corden and Blunt leading the way, and Streep singing her own songs live. Crawford's and Huttlestone's performances I thought were wonderful considering their ages, but then Crawford and Huttlestone are veterans of musical theater with Huttlestone appearing in Les Miserables.

This a a dark movie - and people should remember that, despite the Disney name, this is a Steven Sondheim musical and not your typical Disney family oriented animated movie musical. This is the second Broadway adaption that Disney has made, and the style and themes of the movie are slightly different from Disney, being a darker, existentialist, and more adult movie - along with the consequences of wishes as the major theme of the movie since the musical was not originated from Disney and does not follow the happily ever after fairy tale endings that we have all grown up with.

Even though Johnny Depp is credited in the movie, Depp's performance is really just a cameo appearance in the movie. The movie is not about Depp, but his performance did capture his character as it was based on the Zoot suit wearing Wolf from the old 1940's Tex Avery cartoons.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Into the Woods.



Rated PG for violence and sexual intentions. Running time: 125 Minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

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