Lexi Anderson
Staff Writer
Over this past winter break, my sister and I took our usual trip to the Regal Barn to see the highly anticipated musical-comedy, Into the Woods.
Into the Woods, directed by Rob Marshall, is a twist on the classic fairytale characters we all know and love. It features iconic characters such as Little Red Riding-Hood, the Wolf, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and others along with the newly introduced baker and his wife.
The Witch, played by the simply amazing Meryl Streep, sends the baker and his wife on a quest through the woods to find specific objects for her. In return ,she’ll make the baker’s wife (played by Emily Blunt) fertile.
The other characters happen to all have their own reasons to go into the woods as well. Little Jack has to go to a different town to sell his goat, Cinderella is going to the ball, and Little Red Riding Hood is bringing bakery goods back to her grandmother. Their storylines begin to intertwine as the story unfolds.
As my sister and I sat down in our seats we waited excitedly for the movie the start.
Into the Woods opens with a montage of the different fairytale characters singing the charming, but extraordinarily long, song “Into the Woods.” What starts out as a sweet tune turns into an intense, almost headache-inducing noise. Nonetheless, I still had hope as the movie began.
The biggest fault in this movie is that there was a distinct point where it could’ve ended, and you felt like it was going to end.
With about 45 minutes of the movie left all seems to be resolved: Cinderella is marrying her prince after being indecisive about him throughout the whole film, the baker and his wife have a child, Jack’s mom is wealthy, Rapunzel and her prince are happy and in love, Red and her Grandma are happy, and the Witch has regained her beauty. Right when you think the movie is going to close, another conflict arises that lasts another 45 minutes of the movie.
Although the ending of the movie was heartwarming, I really just wanted it to end.
I saw Interstellar with my sister as well, which was a whopping three hours long. Honestly, I felt like the two hour long Into the Woods lasted much longer.
Although the movie itself wasn’t amazing, the acting and singing of the cast was quite good, with Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt doing a particularly good job. The fairytale-like costume design was also great, and the film has even been nominated for an Academy Award for this category.
Overall, I would give Into the Woods three stars out of five. It lacked depth and didn’t really wow me, but it was still an enjoyable watch. The cast was great, and the musical numbers were fun and catchy. Surely, it’s not something I’d watch again, but I don’t regret having gone to see it.
