Into the Woods was probably the most highly anticipated musical film adaption of all time a lot of theater people have been waiting for this movie for over 20 years! There have been several attempts at making the movie some early drafts included Robin Williams (Who I continue to miss) as The Baker, Goldie Hawn as The Baker’s Wife (No Comment), Cher as The Witch (I see it and I think it would have been very interesting), Danny DeVito as The Giant, Steve Martin as The Wolf (YES!!!) and Roseanne Barr as Jack’s Mother. There were several reports of a movie happening after that, but none ever surfaced or came to be until now. I was super excited for the movie and when I was watching the movie I was singing along the whole time. For me the problems were not with the actors, but it was more to do with the screenplay. There were several rewrites I didn’t like about the movie 1) The deletion of “Our Little World” this song was not in the original Broadway production it was in the pre-broadway tryout but was deleted afterword and then reinstated for the West End run and for all subsequent runs. It’s a duet between The Witch and Rapunzel when we first meet Rapunzel it’s a cute little song and it would have shown off Streep’s (The Witch) acting talents. The song to me is incredibly necessary. The witch talks about how “If only it was her hair that grew and not her” while Rapunzel talks about how she wants to leave the tower and explore the world. It gives more for Rapunzel to do rather than her "Ah,ah,ah,ah,ah" but it also shows you how much she wants to leave and how the Witch knows that Rapunzel wants to leave, but refuses to believe it. 2) "The Witch's Rap" rewrites! Those rewrites drove me crazy! To me they actually weakened the opening number (Miss Streep made it work, but it still annoyed me) 3) I did not like Rapunzel's end. Rob Marshall (The Director) said "Rapunzel's end it still pretty dark" ***SPOILER ALERT*** No it's not! She just runs away with her Prince. In the Broadway show she goes full on crazy and she dies and gets squished by the Giant, which leads to 4) The rewrites to "Witch's Lament" it was such a beautiful song the way it was, but they just shortened it and it was eh. The beginning of the song "This is the world I meant! Couldn't you listen.... Safe behind walls as I could not!" it was so beautiful and yet so haunting and Meryl would have made it haunting times a thousand! I really wish they hadn't taken the beginning part out. 5) What really annoyed me was how they took out those little snippet songs like "The Spell is on Our House (Reprise)" (The other songs weren't really included as songs because they're all of 2 seconds in the Broadway production) these songs were so short, but so important sometimes and it annoyed me how they took them out and for the most part were replaced with mediocre dialogue scenes. 6) There was this one part of the film after The Baker and The Baker's Wife separate when they argue about the cow running away and then The Witch appears and yells at them. There was this slight second of silence between them were if a song was put there it would have been such a beautiful moment even if they didn't sing it to each other and it was just them singing inner thoughts I felt like it could have been a truly beautiful moment. 7) "I Know Things Now" I didn't like how they had that whole sequence of Little Red going down The Wolf's stomach it looked so fake and really hurt the movie in my opinion. 8) Some unnecessary moments of narrating by the baker. I can't remember specific spots, but I remember some parts just annoyed me so much. Never fear though! There is a happily ever after (Journey over... hehe funny) there were several things that I loved about the film or I was happy that they did. 1) The production design! The costumes and sets were so beautiful and gorgeous and perfect especially Meryl Streep's Witch's Costume (After Transformation) 2) The deletion of The Mysterious Man, Narrator (Which is now the job of The Baker), Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel's Twins all of these characters were great for the stage, but would have just been annoying for the movie. 3) The deletion of the songs "Agony (Reprise)" this song would have just been to much in the movie and a little inappropriate in the movie as well. "I Guess This is Goodbye" this song also would have just been to much for the movie and the songs "First Midnight" and "Second Midnight" I'm happy they're gone that would have been weird to see on the screen, but I would have applauded Marshall (The director) if he could have pulled it off. 4) "Agony" sung by Cinderella's Prince (Pine) and Rapunzel's Prince (Magnussen) both were perfect and they were hilarious in this number they worked so well together in this number. Now let's talk about each person individually!
Meryl Streep as The Witch: She was perfection, but there was just something missing from her performance. I'm not sure if it was because of all the rewrites made to her songs, but for me there was something missing. Miss Streep was still amazing and she always is. Streep's "Stay With Me" and "The Last Midnight" were absolutely beautiful and haunting! I would love to see her take this role to the stage! She would win a Tony! She was perfectly funny and dramatic and I'm thinking Oscar #4.
Emily Blunt as The Baker's Wife: Miss Blunt was very good in this film she was insanely funny especially during "Any Moment" and she was much better at singing than I thought she would be. I thought her "Moments in the Woods" was absolutely beautiful! I loved Joanna Gleason in this role, but Blunt just set a whole new standard for this role. Miss Blunt was so cute and adorable in this role and I'm so happy they chose her for this role.
James Corden as The Baker: I think Corden was hilarious in this role! He was perfect at the funny moments, but for the dramatic moments he was good,alright but compared to others in the film he was okay. I think he did a great job in this role, but I don't see any awards coming his way.
Anna Kendrick as Cinderella: Everyone hated the idea of Miss Kendrick playing Cinderella. I actually liked the thought I think she would do a pretty good job and she did, but she wasn't great. There were sometimes when she delivered a line she was a little bit flat and boring and she just didn't show any emotion at time or if she did it was one constant emotion throughout. I thought her singing was top notch it was just her acting that failed.
Chris Pine as Cinderella's Prince: Pine was absolutely hilarious as Cinderella's Prince he brought something to the character that you can never see on the stage, I can't quite put my finger on it, but it was awesome and when he told Cinderella "I will always love the princess that ran away" or something like that it got me in the feels. I was shanked in the feels.
Johnny Depp as The Wolf: As soon as I saw that Depp was cast as The Wolf I just cried. Depp and that role was such a perfect fit! He was absolutely amazing! (They did lower "Hello, Little Girl" for him, but he was still amazing!) Depp was absolutely hilarious as The Wolf and there was not a single thing I can complain about what he did.
Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood: Little miss Crawford just lacked energy she would sing a line, walk around, sing, walk, some dialogue and it was all mechanical and it did not quite mesh with everyone else. She does not have anything but stage credits to her name so I will cut her a break she does not know how to hit her marks for the camera, but where was the energy? She was Annie in the 2012 Revival of Annie where’s the energy?
MacKenzie Mauzy as Rapunzel: To be honest we don't see to much of Rapunzel in the movie for me to give a good and thought out review for her. I thought she was very good from what I saw.
Daniel Huttlestone as Jack: I really did not like Huttlestone as Jack he had this really annoying lisp and a weird bellowing nasal (I know that sounds impossible, but thats what it sounded like to me) quality about him and I think his acting was not that great either. It was along the same lines as Miss Crawford they just don't know how to hit their marks for the camera.
Tracey Ullman as Jack's Mother: Miss Ullman was hilarious as Jack's Mother and I would also love to see her play this role on the stage I think it would be hilarious to see her sing "Slotted spoons don't hold much soup" she was perfect and I wish her part hadn't been drastically shortened.
Christine Baranski as Cinderella's Stepmother: This was another time where I thought perfection!!! Miss Baranski was hilarious as Tanya in Mamma Mia (Also starring Meryl Streep) and she was hilarious in this role I would also love to see her take this role on in the stage show.
Tammy Blanchard and Lucy Punch as Florinda and Lucinda: They were also hilarious in their basically cameo roles they were in the movie all of ten minutes, but they were hilarious and funny as the evil stepsisters.
Billy Magnussen as Rapunzel's Prince: Magnussen was another one of those actors whose roles was greatly diminished because of the stage-to-screen changes they made for the film, but he was absolutely hilarious.
Overall I thought Into the Woods was a good movie and the problems wasn't the acting or the actors/ actresses it was with the screenplay and the lyric changes.
****SPECIAL!!!!*****
Here are my Oscar nomination predictions for this film.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Chris Pine as Cinderella's Prince
Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Johnny Depp as The Wolf (If they consider him a supporting actor)
Best Actress in a Leading Role for Emily Blunt as The Baker's Wife
Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Meryl Streep as The Witch
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Best Production Design
Best Visual Effects
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