INTO THE WOODS is an interesting musical to watch
that flows
very well for the first 90 minutes before feeling too long in the last half
hour. It is a visual treat with a great
cast while most of the casting choices are spot on with the lyrics (but I wonder
if the Wolf’s song would have been more spot on if Little Red Riding Hood was
played by a teenager or young woman instead of a kid). A Baker (James Corden)
and his wife (Emily
Blunt) are told by a witch (Meryl Streep) to gather a set of items (a red cape,
a golden slipper, golden yellow hair, and a white cow) in three days so the
curse put on the Baker’s family to remain infertile will be broken (since the
Baker and his wife want a child). They
cross paths with characters from other fairy tales including Cinderella (Anna
Kendrick), Jack (of Jack and the Beanstalk), Rapunzel (and it is a glaring
omission they never resolve whether the Baker’s long lost sister is Rapunzel),
and Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford).
Cinderella is faced with indecision each night as she flees from the
Prince (Chris Pine) at the Festival while Jack wants to get enough money to buy
back his beloved milky white cow (his only friend). INTO THE WOODS is
a fun genre bending
musical that director Rob Marshall has managed to craft, but I wonder how this
musical adaptation would have turned out if it was under a more daring director
or at least have better pacing in the end.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Never Before Seen Sondheim Original Song: “She’ll
Be Back”
sung by Meryl Streep
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT THE WOODS
(13:23)- a promotional
featurette where Rob Marshall says INTO THE WOODS is a 21st century
musical, about the relationship between parents and kids, and it is a metaphor
for various things in life like wishes, dreams, fears, and loss and rebirth.
Also learn how a patch of woods on Stephen Sondheim’s property inspired the
musical and he took the cast of the stage musical to visit it during
rehearsals.
THE CAST GOOD AS GOLD (10:10)-
Rob Marshall and cast interviews. Anna Kendrick describes Cinderella as brave
and neurotic/ a couple therapist’s dream while they used very little make-up to
help Meryll Streep achieve the looks for the Witch.
DEEPER INTO THE WOODS:
FROM STAGE TO SCREEN (8:33)-a
brief history of how the stage musical became a movie
THE MAGIC OF THE WOODS (7:24)-
the music, editing, and sound design of INTO THE WOODS
DESIGNING THE WOODS (7:07)- production design
featurette
that focuses on the woods set they built on a stage which they combined with
the woods stuff they shot on location with help from the director of
photography of INTO THE WOODS
THE COSTUMES OF THE WOODS (6:53)- Behind-the-scenes
of the
costume design of Colleen Atwood as she used a different time period for each
set of characters and put wood textures into the costumes. Johnny Depp suggested
the Tex Avery zoot suit
look for the Wolf while other secretes are revealed like how Colleen designed
Emily Blunt’s dress to hide her pregnancy in addition a brief mention of Peter
King’s hair and make-up design and how the Witch costumes were a collaboration
between Meryl Streep and Colleen to allow for the movements of the character.
Audio Commentary by Director Rob Marshall and
Producer John
DeLuca
Music and Lyrics fro various musical sequences
in the movie
Five Golden Easter Eggs and I have located four
of them
which includes Anna Kendrick running around in Cinderella’s golden sneakers,
the actor playing Jack climbing the beanstock in a wire harness, the farewell
of the Witch via a green colored lift platform, and other behind-the-scenes
bits.
Also included is a code to download and stream
a digital HD
copy of INTO THE WOODS
FINAL ANALYSIS:
INTO
THE WOODS is a fun genre bending musical which feels a little long in the
end. The behind-the-scenes extra come off
sometimes as a little too promotional instead of digging deep into the making
of the movie (like the special effects for example).
This review is ©3-25-2014
David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments
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