madpigmadpig A total waste. No real songs, glossed over/abbreviated stories, more so-so acting than should be in a major production, and unimaginative art direction/costumes. It's supposed to be a musical, but there aren't really any songs. It's almost entirely just sing-songy dialogue that happens to have random bits of music flitting around behind it. The fairytales either need to be "fractured" for silliness or delivered faithfully. Not just muddled for convenience-sake like this. Worst of all, no progression. Most of the way through, the husband and wife characters do a whole speech/song about how the husband's character has changed, but it hasn't. There aren't any character arcs at all by that point in the movie. Oh, and the acting. Red Riding Hood is too old, too loud, and really obnoxious. The two princes seemed very hard to believe as heterosexuals, especially during their big duet. The husband/wife seemed like a modern suburban couple (of green actors). The entire set design is dark blue/green. What's the point of having a production design budget if there's nothing to look at? And who designed Depp's Big Bad Wolf costume, or lack thereof? Not only is that lazy, but it also makes the scene seem more like a weird old man hitting on a young girl than like an animal wanting to consume her. Wrong kind of creepy, guys. Finally, I'm generally annoyed at Disney's new self-flagellating trend to appease classic-fairytale-Disneyfying haters. Once Upon a Time and other such TV shows were bad enough as examples of ironically anti-Disney products. The original versions of the fairytales that Disney adapted in the past were horrific, and I was glad to see them cleaned up and made kid-friendly. Heck, civilized-society friendly. This movie is an example of backsliding. Disney needs to stop the self-hate and embrace its tradition as a positive shaper of our modern mythology. In short, skip this movie. It's abject cultural flotsam.

MJB784 Visually it was very cool with terrific visuals and production design...but didn't anyone realize that all the songs sounded exactly the same in both lyrics and high pitched voices? That all the songs were basically the same tone and speech pattern where all the lyrics except the chorus were in one ear and out the other and sometimes different songs were playing at the same time sounding the same because every character and actor gave high pitched voices? Here's an example: "DAH DA DAH DA DAH DA DAH DA..INTO THE WOODS!!!..DAH DA DAH DA...INTO THE WOODS!"

merelyaninnuendo Into The WoodsA dark twisted version of Disney tales that blends in perfectly and kicks off deep emotion out of this multi starrer feature where each and every character factors in as essentially as the lead ones. Musical genre being Rob Marshall's comfort zone, shines majestically off screen where each and every musical sequences defines his keen observation and passion towards his work. James Corden and Anna Kendrick at the heart of it are quite aware of their work (just as they are in every musical number) and are supported thoroughly in major and minor parts by Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Chris Pine. Into The Woods has its first act plucked out from different tales and is smartly plotted by the writers before the second act kicks in and the twist comes in where everything goes unpredictable only to make it dull and predictable for the last act that is overlong.

Wuchak RELEASED IN 2014 and directed by Rob Marshall, "Into the Woods" is a musical about a baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) who venture into the dark forest to find the ingredients a witch (Meryl Streep) says will lift the curse that has made them childless, which will simultaneously restore the witch's beauty. Into this plot are mixed the popular fairy tales of Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Cinderella & her prince (Anna Kendrick & Chris Pine), Jack and the Beanstalk (Daniel Huttlestone) and Rapunzel & her prince (Mackenzie Mauzy & Billy Magnussen). Johnny Depp has a glorified cameo as the wolf that preys upon Red Riding Hood.I'm not a fan of musicals, generally speaking, but I love "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) and "Into the Woods" is akin to a modern-day "Wizard of Oz" albeit with superior locations/sets/effects and way more music (composed by Stephen Sondheim). I think it would've worked better if, like "Wizard," there was more dialogue and less song & dance, but that's just me. The great cast is more-than-up for the task, however, and I like the black humor and message. The work by hundreds of talented people that went into pulling this film off is mind-boggling. And they DO pull it off. If you can't handle musicals, though, head for the hills.THE MOVIE RUNS 125 minutes and was shot in England. WRITERS: Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine. ADDITIONAL CAST: Christine Baranski plays Cinderella's evil stepmother and Tammy Blanchard & Lucy Punch her spoiled stepsisters.GRADE: B-