In a faraway kingdom live a young woman struggling at the hands of her step-mom and step-sister, a baker and his wife who crave for a child but haven’t been able to have one, Jack living in poverty with his mother and a girl with her sick granny living in the woods. The baker discovers that the witch next door has cast a spell on his family which is preventing him from having a child and the witch offers to reverse the curse if he can obtain four unique objects from the woods. He sets out in pursuit and permanently alters the lives of Jack, the young woman and the little girl with the events pertaining to it forming the rest of the story.
Language:
English
Running Time:
125 min
Rating:
PG
Release date:
25 December 2014
Directed by:
Rob Marshall
Produced by:
Rob Marshall
John DeLuca
Marc Platt
Callum McDougall
Written by:
James Lapine
Based on:
Into the Woods
by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine
Starring:
Meryl Streep
Emily Blunt
James Corden
Anna Kendrick
Chris Pine
Tracey Ullman
Christine Baranski
Music by:
Stephen Sondheim
Shot by:
Dion Beebe
Edited by:
Wyatt Smith
Distributed by:
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

What’s Hot

  • Fairy tales are fascinating in their own aspects and this movie adapts the musical on screen which has an interesting conglomeration of popular fairy tales such as ‘The little Red Riding Hood’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, ‘Rapunzel’ and Cinderalla with slight modifications to weave them together which creates an epic fairy tale with profound elements of thrill, suspense and imagination.
  • A significant portion of the dialogues and monologues are featured as catchy poems which suits the fantasy backdrop all the more. The ‘Wish’ poem that introduces the characters and the ‘Agony’ poem featuring an interaction between the princes vying for Cinderella and Rapunzel are ones that impress of the lot in terms of impactful translation on screen.
  • Meryl Streep as the Witch and Anna Kendrick as Cinderalla are undoubtedly the star performers amongst the huge lot of characters. Meryl Streep blends in to play the creepy witch with an emotional side as well. Anna Kendrick is pretty life like in her role as the suppressed young woman rising above discriminations to become a princess. Johny Depp makes a short appearance as the ‘Wolf’ to play another quirky role he is known for.
  • The costumes for Meryl Streep, Cinderella and the bride wannabes in the Royal Ball are quite expressive and exquisite. The Princes are charming in their respective attire as well. This along with some grand production design for the castles, the woods and the beanstalks make a complete fairy tale experience possible.

What’s Not

  • The movie wanders into a territory of confusion in the second half with a touch too much heavy sentiments and inexplicable situations compared to the much aggressive end to the first half which seemed like a climax in itself. This leaves us with more like two different stories in each half and doesn’t augur well for the movie experience.
  • The characters of the typically baddies such as the Wolf, the step mother and importantly the Witch have a fair share of benevolence and much less of malice we would expect and proves to be a turn off.

Badges

Verdict

Verdict Stamp

‘Into the woods’ is an attempt to bring the most famous fairy tales into a common canvas and reinvent them on screen with a unified plot backed by a committed performance from the cast. With catchy designs and a musical presentation this movie is bound to interest the kids and adults alike - A fairytale finish indeed!