Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Johnny Depp, Lilla Crawford, Daniel Huttlestone, MacKenzie Mauzy, Billy Magnussen, Tammy Blanchard, Lucy Punch, Annette Crosbie, Joanna Riding, Frances de la Tour, Richard Glover, Simon Russell Beale.
The hopeless romantic or deprived child may have a lot to answer for when it comes to giving the overblown cliché of Happily Ever After, so beloved of Mills and Boon, Hollywood musicals throughout cinema history and of course the stock in trade fairytale, room to breathe. Happily ever after implies not only that the story may have even bored the narrator to the point of wanting to wrap the tale, the hero may have got the girl or that the kingdom was saved from some treacherous beast but it also suggests that that written creature never once again had another tale of adventure in them but also that the person being read to may not survive the anguish of finding out that there is a lot more to life than, Once upon a time. For that reason, there are times when you have to just adore Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine as the musical big screen adaptation of their musical Into The Woods redresses the problem and throws all the stereotypical actions involved in the fairy tale straight into the dustbin.
Nature is a mysterious beast, for some it seems they are more wary of wandering into the darkness of the forest than they are rooting through back alleys and shadow cast country lanes. Nature plays tricks on those who distrust it enough to build over it, it teases with a smile and cast those same shadows as thoughts in your head. When nature is coupled with the fairy story, magical events can happen and an unknown moment of clarity can appear.
With a cast that is headed by the near seemingly immortal Meryl Streep, Into The Woods has got no choice in whether it wants to be good or not, it just has to except the greatness that is going to be attached to its very being. With James Corden, a tremendous Emily Blunt, a swaggering and at times playing it seems very much tongue in cheek, Chris Pine, an unfortunately under used Simon Russell Beale and a wonderful performance by Lilla Crawford as Red Riding Hood, especially in her scenes opposite the imposing Johnny Depp as Mr. Wolf, Into The Woods relies not just on the attributes of its prose styled lyrics and sumptuous music, it gives more room to a cast to really delve into the characters in much the same way that Les Miserables or Chicago were able to achieve.
Alongside them all though is Tracey Ullman as Jack’s mother and is with a fluttering heart that fans of this very funny woman will applaud her role with a hint of irony at the lost years on film. It is a much welcome return for Ms. Ullman after the heartbreak she has gone through in recent years and if this film is but a new landmark, then perhaps her fans this side of the Atlantic will have more reason to cheer again.
Into the Woods is a magical, faith in the musical restoring production. However good it is on stage and it has to be said that it is a piece of true art when delivered with exuberance and with a cast who enjoy the premise, it is nothing when now comparing it on the cinema screen in full colour and with non-stop appeal. In much the same way that The Wizard of Oz energised a medium, Into The Woods shows that the same genre can almost re-invent itself to become something honourable once more.
Big, brash and very beautiful, there is no need to wander off the beaten path, just enjoy it for all that its worth.
Ian D. Hall