Movie review : Into the Woods

Yesterday, Lewis and I went to see…

(originally a live production by famous musical playwright, Stephen Sondheim)

     Disney did an admirable job choosing picturesque settings for the first half of the movie.  The star-studded cast is an amazing assemble.  They perform well together, and the humor betwixt them is great to watch.  The actors all did splendid jobs in their roles; the film is a fun vehicle to showcase their skills. The plot concerns a "fairy tale land" where all the Fairy Tale Story characters live together, and their story lines crisscross (like a boulevard intersection).  Its very similar to (Disney-owned) ABC's TV show "Once Upon A Time", which is why Disney probably liked the idea of producing the movie.

     If the production had stopped after Cinderella's marriage, it would've been an perfectly good show.  Everything tied together and was explained.  But, the plot wasn't written that way.  Instead, the second half of the movie takes a sudden, jerking twist for the worst.  It might have intended to give consequences to the characters (like the final episode of "Seinfeld").  Starting with an "earthquake", caused by a giant (from Jack's beanstalk).  From that point, the plot no longer holds continuity (nor does it make entire sense).  Plot lines and details are forgotten about, and people die for seemingly no good reason.  The characters are forced into bizarre nonsense:

1.  After waiting decades and orchestrating the hunt of 4 magical items (to restore her beauty and essence), the Witch succeeds!… then suddenly commits suicide.  Kind of a letdown.   

2.  Its not made clear to the audience if she lost her magical powers or not, after her restoration.

3.  The magic beans that she throws to the ground before her demise fail to produce beanstalks, like all the previous ones had, during the first half of the film.

4.  Nobody in the kingdom can figure out how the Giant's wife came to their land… despite the second enormous beanstalk that is visible in camera-vistas of the kingdom!  (You'd think they would've chopped it down, as soon as it sprouted up to the clouds).

5.  Rapunzel's hair is snapped off by the Baker's wife, yet in the next scene, its still long enough for her prince to use to climb up the tower.

6.  Despite being "important" characters, Rapunzel and her Prince are seemingly forgotten about for the second half of the movie, and make no further appearances or contribution to the plot.

7.  …which is a shame, because it meant that the sibling rivalry between that Prince and Prince Charming (which had been written into the beginning of the film, and showcased in a funny musical number) had no further development.

8.  Cinderella's evil stepmother and stepsisters appear to be living splendidly in Cinderella's castle (even though Cinderella describes previously living with them in her father's old home as "a nightmare").  You'd think that she would've let them rot in their own house.

9.  Jack's mother--whom he intended to support via his trip up the beanstalk--gets killed by accident while trying to verbally defend her son.  The characters that caused her death calmly exit the scene, without anyone who's there giving them repercussions, and are never seen again. 

10.  The womanizing Prince Charming calmly departs from his wife, merely at her suggestion that their relationship might not work out.  Shortly after, she agrees to move in with the widowed Baker.  (No divorce needed, apparently).  Neither does the prince help slay the giant.  The plot led the audience to expect otherwise.

11.  The second half of the movie seems to forget about all the other secondary characters, and the last quarter only includes a handful of the primary ones.  The final scene doesn't show a joyously saved kingdom either.

12.  The lyrics and rhyming are lovely, but all the musical numbers occur in the same 2 melodies.  Over and over again.  As if they writers quit after composing only 2 songs.  (At least in the film, "Up", the repeating music has some minor variation).

     It does seem odd that the film puts so much effort into character development and plot lines, but then abandons them (as "Glee" episodes do, LOL).  The audience is left wondering what happened, because it is not explained well, and because the loose ends aren't summarized for closure.