This month Disney brings Stephen Sondhiem’s musical ‘Into the Woods’ to cinemas. The mashup of multiple fairytales has been proposed for the screen many times, but Director Rob Marshall has finally taken it across the line.
There storyline has been softened a little to make it more family friendly, and a few of the songs from the stage version have been dropped to cut down on the films running time but essentially it’s a faithful adaptation.
A Baker and his wife, who cannot have a child due a curse on their home, head into the woods to find a list of things the local witch needs to break the spell, along the way they bump into all the other fairytale characters who have also headed into the woods. Their a boy trying to sell his cow, a girl with ugly step sisters, a charming prince, a girl in a tower with long hair, and a young girl off to her grandmother’s house. Quickly all their tales become entwined.
British star James Corden takes on his biggest role to date, Meryl Streep rocks the blue eye shadow as the witch, Chris Pine is comical as one of several princes running around in the woods, while Anna Kendrick fits into Cinderella’s shoes. Christine Baranski is splendidly cast as the Ugly step mother.
This is a fun film that you can take the whole family to see.
Graeme Watson
