Into The Woods

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tamara

Been waiting years for this one. I always imagined this show, probably my favourite musical, as a movie and now it is one. It's pretty good too. I already love the songs and story and the adaptation works well to distill it down, most of the cuts happening in the second act and entire characters and subplots gone.

Technically the film is pretty good, it feels very stage bound and limited, particularly in the second half but the lighting is always sumptuous. I figured they'd open it out more than they did, obviously even a big production like this has real budget limitations. Especially apparent when Red is eaten, or there are giants.

For the most part, we are still told stories by the characters rather than seeing them happen, the Baker standing in for the audience. The exception being Cinderella stopping time on the steps of the palace. That was kinda neat.

The cast all do well, and the singing is fine. Johnny Depp give a very Johnny Depp performance that will undoubtably annoy some, but he's not in the film much so it's not a big problem. Daniel Huttlestone, who plays Jack, has a really annoying speech impediment. Maybe it's just me that'll notice it.

All the small added lines and new parts excited me. There's certainly a lot I miss. Easily the audience favourite part will be the prince's duet Agony, which is brilliantly performed and choreographed and shot. Only a handful of other numbers feel as well staged. I know the musical slows down in the second half, once the ticking time clock of the quest has finished, plus they've truncated it even further in the adaptation, but the lackluster way the last third of the film ends with people standing around broken trees on a cramped soundstage singing at each other is a let down. The rousing finale is non-diagetic, simply thrown over the top of the scene. A real disappointing way to end, even if it does speed things up. None of those last songs hit as well for me because those themes aren't set up well at all. And I don't mean musical themes either, there's plenty of times the score plays music used later in song and even of deleted numbers, just to rub it in the face of people that know the score. I miss that Agony reprise, especially after the first time around word so well.

All in all, it's the musical I know and great to see on the big screen with nice little flourishes of inventiveness. The whole first half is very satisfying indeed, the second a little lacklustre but still an enjoyable experience overall. No doubt I'll have more to say on second viewing, but I'll leave it here for now.