Into The Woods
Director: Rob Marshall
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, Chris Pine
125 mins; Class PG;
KRS Releasing Ltd
Once upon a time in a land far, far away lived an ensemble of characters created by the brothers Grimm.
The tales of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and his Beanstalk are now legendary.
In 1986, American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, together with James Lapine, brought them all together and threw in a wonderfully wicked witch, a kindly baker and his wife and more colourful characters for their Tony award-winning musical Into the Woods.
Director Rob Marshall has now adapted it for the big screen.
The premise is simple – the village Baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) are saddened by their inability to have a child. They learn they are the victims of a curse placed on their house by the Witch (Meryl Streep) who promises to reverse the curse if they bring her four items she needs before the blue moon rises in three nights’ time.
In the meantime, young Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) is forced by his mother to sell his beloved cow in the market to get some money; Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) begs the baker for some bread for her grandmother; Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) pines for a chance to be at the ball and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy) dreams of a life away from captivity at the top of a tower…
Its inherent darkness provides a sharp and emotional counterpoint to the comedy
The songs boast Sondheim’s trademark delightfully droll and wickedly witty lyrics; his brilliance evident in the humour and varied emotions they elicit.
Lapine’s intricate and engaging screenplay effortlessly brings all the plot strands together in a story of love, loss, ambition, greed, the complexities of relationships and parenthood and the dangers of getting what you wish for, without the moralising ever overwhelming the story. Its inherent darkness providing a sharp and emotional counterpoint to the comedy.
Marshall is served by a perfect cast, none of whom put a foot – or sing a note – wrong. Streep lets rip like a demented being, relishing every moment as the wild, blue-haired, long-clawed, aesthetically ugly, old crone, central to the piece.
Yet, Streep being Streep, she brings pathos and humour to the character, making her a fully three-dimensional villain we love to hate, but can’t hate completely.
Anna Kendrick is all sweetness and delight as Cinderella, dreaming of a better life. Yet, the character boasts some admirable depths - her perfect evening with the prince sullied by the events unfolding in the woods below, and even by the prince himself who isn’t all that he seems.
True to the film’s rather subversive nature, this charming prince is a tad vapid. In the person of Chris Pine, he gets the heartiest laughs in a duet with Billy Magnusson (as the Prince’s younger brother) about which of the two suffers the greatest agony in love.
Blunt displays her versatility – having played a tough warrior last time we saw here in Edge of Tomorrow – as the Baker’s wife and she shares some lovely chemistry with the up-and-coming Corden.
With the likes of Johnny Depp, Tracey Ullman, and Christine Baranski in strong supporting roles, it is an ensemble to die for.
Add to all that the forbidding and mysterious woods which serve as the backdrop to the proceedings, for a musical film that is intelligent, engaging, magical, funny and moving.