Spoilers, you've been warned.
OK, so I've never been a Broadway/musical fan BUT, I do appreciate a good story when I see one. Into The Woods was not one of those good stories. First off, the story starts off with an incredibly repetitive and rather annoying song which is supposed to introduce the major characters but instead turns into a montage of all the major characters spouting the same lines with slight variations over and over again for 15 minutes too long. In reality, pretty much every song is the same repetitive nonsense with the exception of one song sung by the two princes which is refreshing in it provides just a little bit of humor which is utterly lacking throughout the rest of the film. Next problem is the lack of character development. All the characters feel shallow and you have a hard time finding a character to be interested in and honestly I was more interested in the damn cow for the majority of the movie than any of the main characters. Third problem I had was pacing, things go from 0 to 100 real fast and then it likes to hit a wall in the form of another repetitive 15 minute song in order to completely throw you off. Fourth problem is the really disturbing and graphic material that somehow slipped into a PG rated film i.e., Johnny Depp's character and the rather obvious allusion to pedophiles using candy to lure unsuspecting children or Cinderella carelessly sicking her bird friends on her step sisters to peck their eyes blind in some twisted sense of revenge, the list goes on and on. And last and probably the biggest problem I had with this film was the overall confusing plot. My girlfriend and I spent the majority of the movie trying to figure out exactly what was happening and just when we thought we were getting a grip on the plot the whole movie would make a U turn and head in a totally different direction. Characters' thoughts and actions are void of all logic. I may just be ignorant for never having read the play but I was utterly confused when the witch just decided she had enough of everyone and TURNED HERSELF INTO MUD. In addition, the story makes many really interesting connections between the characters but then simply fails to explore those connections, the biggest for me being that Rapunzel and the Baker are actually brother and sister. Instead of exploring this connection the two never even come into contact with one other nor do they actively pursue one another. What's worse is that Rapunzel seems to play no significant role in the movie whatsoever which is apparent when she just disappears part way through the movie with her prince never to be seen or heard from again.
Overall, the film is incredibly boring, confusing, and at times, disturbing, and will leave you looking for any excuse you can think of to shuffle out of the theater in search of a movie actually worth watching.
OK, so I've never been a Broadway/musical fan BUT, I do appreciate a good story when I see one. Into The Woods was not one of those good stories. First off, the story starts off with an incredibly repetitive and rather annoying song which is supposed to introduce the major characters but instead turns into a montage of all the major characters spouting the same lines with slight variations over and over again for 15 minutes too long. In reality, pretty much every song is the same repetitive nonsense with the exception of one song sung by the two princes which is refreshing in it provides just a little bit of humor which is utterly lacking throughout the rest of the film. Next problem is the lack of character development. All the characters feel shallow and you have a hard time finding a character to be interested in and honestly I was more interested in the damn cow for the majority of the movie than any of the main characters. Third problem I had was pacing, things go from 0 to 100 real fast and then it likes to hit a wall in the form of another repetitive 15 minute song in order to completely throw you off. Fourth problem is the really disturbing and graphic material that somehow slipped into a PG rated film i.e., Johnny Depp's character and the rather obvious allusion to pedophiles using candy to lure unsuspecting children or Cinderella carelessly sicking her bird friends on her step sisters to peck their eyes blind in some twisted sense of revenge, the list goes on and on. And last and probably the biggest problem I had with this film was the overall confusing plot. My girlfriend and I spent the majority of the movie trying to figure out exactly what was happening and just when we thought we were getting a grip on the plot the whole movie would make a U turn and head in a totally different direction. Characters' thoughts and actions are void of all logic. I may just be ignorant for never having read the play but I was utterly confused when the witch just decided she had enough of everyone and TURNED HERSELF INTO MUD. In addition, the story makes many really interesting connections between the characters but then simply fails to explore those connections, the biggest for me being that Rapunzel and the Baker are actually brother and sister. Instead of exploring this connection the two never even come into contact with one other nor do they actively pursue one another. What's worse is that Rapunzel seems to play no significant role in the movie whatsoever which is apparent when she just disappears part way through the movie with her prince never to be seen or heard from again.
Overall, the film is incredibly boring, confusing, and at times, disturbing, and will leave you looking for any excuse you can think of to shuffle out of the theater in search of a movie actually worth watching.