To wrap this all up with one simple sentence, it felt like Disney was doing to “Into The Woods” what they did to “Maleficent” last year. The only difference is that “Into The Woods” is actually based on a Tony Award–winning Broadway musical of the same name. But unlike “Maleficent”, “Into The Woods” features various popular classic fairytales such as Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Little Red Riding Hood.
Mashed up.
So the story goes as such: A childless baker (played by James Corden) and his wife (played by Emily Blunt) are informed by a quivering, quavering neighbour witch person (played by Meryl Streep) that their barrenness is a result of her curse. Reason for curse? It was because the baker’s father was, and we quote the witch, “Rooting through my rutabaga, Raiding my argula”. Whatever that means.
To lift the curse, the childless and squabbling couple need to journey into the woods (hence the movie’s title), that scarily inviting place where protections and inhibitions are removed, to retrieve key items from various fairytales (hence the fairytales mashup) in progress. If they can produce a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold within 3 nights something will finally be cooking in the oven of the baker’s wife’s belly.
But it’s set to be an adventure because obtaining those items means seeking help from others who pass through the nearby woods and all these other people have their own hidden agendas.
We won’t spoil the film for you, but we will say that the cast deserves credit for putting on nice performances for their respective “Into The Woods” roles. For example, it was really nice to see Emily Blunt doing something completely different this time around, since the last we saw her was in “The Edge of Tomorrow“. Also, Meryl Streep was perfectly casted for her role as the witch! Not that we should be surprised because after all, it’s Meryl Streep, who has claimed only about 151 awards and over 400 nominations in her career.
And there was also Chris Pine (as seen in the picture above), who was quite spot on with his portrayal of an arrogant Prince.
Is “Into The Woods” for everyone? Nope. Would we bring a child to watch this? We’re not sure. Would you bring a child to watch “Maleficent”? Exactly. At least we know that anyone from the young teenage years to working adults will be able to enjoy the slickly produced “Into The Woods”. Especially if you’re a fan of whimsical fantasy and musicals!
Even if you’re not, just remember to bring your sense of humour and you’re all set 😉
Check out the production pictures in the gallery below:
*Pictures from Disney.
And if that’s not enough to entice you, “Into the Woods” features an all-star ensemble cast including:
- Meryl Streep as The Witch
- Emily Blunt as The Baker’s Wife
- James Corden as The Baker
- Anna Kendrick as Cinderella
- Chris Pine as Cinderella’s Prince
- Lilla Crawford Little Red Riding Hood
- Daniel Huttlestone as Jack
- Tracey Ullman as Jack’s Mother
- Christine Baranski as Cinderella’s Stepmother
- Mackenzie Mauzy as Rapunzel
- Billy Magnussen as Rapunzel’s Prince
- Johnny Depp as The Wolf
Watch the trailer here:
“Into The Woods” will be released in a cinema near you on 15th Jan.
For more information, visit the movie’s official website.
