Movie Review: "Into the Woods" 12/17/14

This is a movie review for "Into the Woods", originally released at the Dubai International Film Festival, United Arab Emirates, on December 17, 2014. I watched this on January 20, 2020.

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama

Run Time: 2 Hours and 5 Minutes

Trailer

Official MPAA Rating (According to IMDB.com):

G / General Audiences

PG / Parental Guidance Suggested

PG-13 / Parents Strongly Cautioned

R / Restricted

X

Not Rated

Notable Cast

Anna Kendrick ... Cinderella

Daniel Huttlestone ... Jack

James Corden ... Baker / Narrator

Emily Blunt ... Baker's Wife

Christine Baranski ... Stepmother

Lilla Crawford ... Little Red Riding Hood

Meryl Streep ... Witch

Johnny Depp ... Wolf

Billy Magnussen ... Rapunzel's Prince

Mackenzie Mauzy ... Rapunzel

Plot

A baker and his wife are unable to have children. They learn from a witch (neighbor to the baker) that it is because of a curse placed on his father for stealing from the witch's garden. Because of the theft of her garden (especially for some special beans), the witch made the bloodline unable to have children. She tells the baker and his wife that if they retrieve four items from the woods by the end of three days, she can break the curse.

Four items: cow as white as milk, cloak as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, slipper as pure as gold. As the baker searches for these four items, we realize that the other items are connecting other Grimm story tales: cow as white as milk (Jack and the Beanstalk), cloak as red as blood (Red Riding Hood), hair as yellow as corn (Rapunzel), and slipper as pure as gold (Cinderella). Of course, somehow, everyone ends up in the woods. What will happen? Will everyone's wishes come true? Will the baker manage to break the curse?  

Rating Criteria

0/5 – No value whatsoever. Absolute waste of time.

1/5 – Barely worth any time.

2/5 – Pathetic but has a bit of something to hold the attention a little.

3/5 – Somewhat kept the attention but could definitely have used more.

4/5 – Good, but not awe-strikingly amazing. Could have maybe used a bit more to the movie.

5/5 – Go see it! Wonderful movie all around. – characters, music, theme, story line, etc.

2.5/5 - *SPOILERS* 

Interesting story but the wrap up of the movie left so much in question. It was interesting to see at least 3 well-known stories pull together in a Grimm way but it still left a lot to be desired.

If you don't like musicals, stay away because it really is music-centric. Depp's song of the Wolf regarding Red sounded super pervy like a pedophile. I get that the Wolf is thinking about eating her and Granny but the way he describes Red is just so pedophilia....

Another song that I liked that got me interested in this movie (thank you, Pandora radio) is "On the Steps of the Palace". Watching it in the movie was less interesting than I thought it would be but I still think it is a decent piece.

The bad of this movie? Well, Cinderella's Prince (that she marries) is a player and, while in the woods, made out with the baker's wife. Of course, some birds find out and tell Cinderella later and she goes "why did you cheat?". The baker's wife has a moment of "wtf.... What was that? What should I do?". 

She ended up deciding to go on to the life of "Or" (the baker or the Prince) and returning to her husband, not forgetting the moment with the Prince. The worst thing about this is that she dies right after making this decision... And she never gets to go back to her husband and tell him how much he means to her. But that's life, right? Tell everyone what you think of them when you have the chance because you may never get to again...

There were a lot of things that were not addressed at the end though I thought it was great that Cinderella's step-sisters had received physical pain (from their mother and from birds) as retribution for what they had been like to Cinderella. Making Jack's mother die was dumb and didn't make sense. The baker taking on all of these children with Cinderella's help was a lame idea... What happened to the kingdom?

Anyways, this is not a children's movie, in my personal opinion. The way that this movie is put together is very dark and has a lot of adult-themed ideas (cutting off parts of the stepsisters' feet to make them fit Cinderella's glass slipper, the crows attacking the stepsisters and making them blind, the baker's wife making out with the prince, etc).

In general, it was an interesting idea of combining the stories into one but I personally would not want to watch this one again.

Anyways, that's my movie review. Thanks for reading! More will come eventually.

~ Gracie Mae DeLunac

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