Into the Woods (2014, PG)

This is a movie that had me feeling excited and apprehensive in almost equal amounts.  It’s a show I love so much that I was invested in seeing it done right – no small task for a movie musical.  As information started to come out and a number of the casting choices were so unobvious and intriguing (although, after I heard that Alan Cumming was originally considered for the wolf, it was so perfect that I couldn’t get it out of my head,) I knew that, regardless of how it turned out, I wasn’t going to miss it for anything.

As it happens, the movie is pretty terrific.  Is it as good as some of the productions I’ve seen?  No, but it’s better than a lot of movie musicals.  It’s properly cinematic; some adaptations fall into a trap of basically just filming the stage show and dumping it onscreen, which doesn’t work for the medium.  Others, however, seem embarrassed about the fact that they’re musicals and shoehorn in “excuses” to sing, which usually winds up feeling far more ridiculous than simply being a musical.  Luckily, Into the Woods knows what it is and owns up to it quite readily.

Right from the start, with the intricately-lyriced opening number, featuring layer upon layer of overlapping melodies, you can tell you’re in good hands.  The camera flits deftly from scene to scene, weaving the different locales together as the voices bridge the distance.  From there, we largely have a very capable, very thoughtful movie musical.  I especially applaud the devices used to break up the visuals on monologue songs like “Giants in the Sky” and “I Know Things Now.”

The art direction is terrific – the film looks gorgeous, and the magic is especially well done.  I like that, while we get dramatic wind effects, there aren’t a ton of bright lights or flashes of color.  Rather, things tend more to burst in and out of being.  It’s a simple but highly effective technique that feels very naturalistic.  When the baker says, “It’s the witch from next door,” you can really buy this strange, sinister woman as both an enchantress and a neighbor.

My biggest gripe, predictably, is what’s not there.  I know some things have to be cut for time, but the reprise of “Agony” shouldn’t be one of them.  In addition to being hysterical, it sets up what happens with Cinderella’s prince later in the film.  Also, “No More” is quite possibly my favorite of the whole shebang and, even without the mysterious man in the movie, I was gutted not to see it included.  Finally, the movie just feels a bit toothless compared to the show.  It still has an edge to it, and some of the dark humor and moral uncertainty is certainly there, but it definitely has fewer stakes and wades less into questions of right and wrong.

My votes for film MVPs go to James Corden and Emily Blunt as the baker and his wife.  Corden grounds the film with his funny, sincere performance as an ordinary man in over his head, and Blunt is fantastic as a peasant reaching for something better in her life (“Moments in the Woods” is a highlight of the movie.)  Runner-up would be Anna Kendrick’s beautiful turn as Cinderella, but there’s a lot of talent to go around.

Warnings

Dark themes, some violence, and a bit of innuendo.