"Into the Woods" Review

I would start off with my thoughts on musicals as a while, but by gum you've probably heard that more than Kanye West praising himself by now. Needless to say, the only thing I was looking forward to about this movie was the possibility that the trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens would be attached to it. (Despite having seen it 38 times online, and once with the 3rd Hobbit). Having a low bar of expectations most likely made it easy to surpass, but it wasn't necessarily great.

Into the Woods revolves around the world of several fairy tales, including Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and more. The stories are tied together through the adventures of a baker and his wife who are struggling to have a child, and a witch who promises to help them.

Story wise, it's rather strong. It ties several fairy tales together plausibly and thankfully cuts out the excess meat that we all already know. The movie was preceded by a trailer for a new Disney version of Cinderella. Seeing that this movie would also tell the story made me sigh with exhaustion that we would have to sit through the same full tale twice in 6 months from the same studio. But thankfully, it's reduced to just the basic beats that we need in order to progress the main plot.

For a Disney movie however, it's notably eschewing. There is some subject matter in here that I didn't expect at all. I'm not totally sure that i'm really comfortable with the way this came across, but I am rather thankful that this didn't go the easy route. It's an appreciative subversion, and it works to the aesthetic that the film has of pointing out the absurdities of these tales in the first place. It's almost meta towards the genre.

Alright, music talk. Ugh.

Actually, it wasn't as excruciating as I find most musicals. In fact the first song is kinda catchy. I found myself humming a couple bars in my head in the car. (There's also another one which lampoons the genre, but that's more to do with Chris Pine's performance. I'll get to that in a minute.) But of course, the slow tempo monolgue-y songs are like slapping a stapler against your head and saying "We get it!!" I didn't nap through the movie, but I briefly dozed off during one of Emily Blunt's songs.

Meryl Streep. How do I put this? Meryl Streep is to me the way that Derek Jeter is to Red Sox fans. You know she has talent, and you respect her for everything she's done. But at some point, you draw the line. It gets old hearing how amazing she is. I think Steve Martin put it best "Every year the academy nominates four very talented actresses. And then, no matter what, they nominate Meryl Streep." She's great it in this, sure. And I respect her deftly. But at some point it gets tiresome hearing how amazing Meryl Streep Is.

Johnny Depp is another I tire of, but to my great pleasure, he does not wear out his welcome as the wolf. However (and this isn't a criticism towards Depp) I can't say I like the wardrobe design. He looks less like a wolf and more like a pimp dressed like a wolf. What kind of wolf wears a tie? I'm not saying you can't try to humanize the wolf, but the costume doesn't even fit in with what they have designed for everyone else. He feels incredibly out of place, and for once, that's not Johnny Depp's fault.

James Corden is one of two highlights of this film. His baker is delightfully skeptical of the world he lives in. He has all the best moments and a great majority of the laughs. His timing and his delivery are fantastic. I'm sure he'll be great as the new host of The Late Late Show, I just hope he still has time to appear in more movies.

Chris Pine is the other highlight. It seems like most fairy tale movies recently involve a really two dimensional Prince who is meant to function only as a handsome face to the female protagonist. Pine isn't. In an ironic way considering his most famous role, he seems to channel William Shatner's Captain Kirk to lampoon the idea of a lame prince. The song "Agony" very much takes the idea of a shirtless man meant only to be handsome, and points out how absolutely ridiculous the notion is. Chris Pine is a delight in the way he makes his character pop in comparison to how it could have been. In his own words, he's meant to be charming but not sincere.

If musicals are your thing, you won't be disappointed with Into the Woods. But if you're not, the story and acting of Corden and Pine will be enough to get you through some of the more snooze worthy songs. I expected to hate this movie, but I didn't.

B-