ABOVE: Watch the trailer for Into the Woods.
TORONTO — One of several movies opening on Christmas Day is Into the Woods, an adaptation of the Broadway musical by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine.
Rob Marshall (Chicago) directed an all-star cast that includes Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine and Johnny Depp as various familiar fairy tale characters.
With so many options at cinemas this season, will moviegoers want to explore Into the Woods? Here’s a look at some of the reviews.
Claudia Puig of USA Today opined Into the Woods is “a place worth exploring.”
She wrote: “The film features stunning production design and a charming cast.”
Puig said the movie is not as dark as the stage musical and delivers “visual panache and musical flair.”
But Ed Symkus of the Lincoln Courier warned parents Into the Woods might not be suitable for their children.
Though he described it as “an excellent film” with “some fine acting and singing,” Symkus stressed “it is NOT a kids’ film.”
“There are things happening in the second half that go way beyond creepy. For some young viewers, certain events will be upsetting,” he wrote. “For others, depending on their maturity or immaturity, there’s a potential for a couple of scenes to be traumatizing.”
READ MORE: What the critics are saying about other recent movies
At the Washington Post, Jane Horwitz suggested the movie is suitable for older children.
“If anything can make kids 10 and older fall in love with musicals — particularly Stephen Sondheim’s cerebral and melodically challenging ones — it will be this delectably acted, designed and sung adaptation of his 1987 classic about fairy tales,” she wrote.
“The implicit sexual threat toward the little girl from the wolf is the strongest adult element in the film, though he’s onscreen for only a few minutes. Cinderella’s stepmother slices off bits of her own daughters’ feet to make them fit in the glass slipper (it’s implied but not really shown).”
Jesse Hassenger of the A.V. Club said Into the Woods “lacks the exhilaration of the best movie musicals” but manages to capture the stage version’s emotional intimacy.
But, “the way the characters keep running past, around, and after each other makes the movie feel busier and less elegant than it should.”
In Variety, Scott Foundas concluded that Marshall “hasn’t made one of the great movie musicals here, but he hasn’t bungled it, either.”
He added: “The real magic is there in Sondheim’s music, which Marshall allows to come through mostly unimpeded.”
John Serba of Michigan Live complained that Marshall “never really takes advantage of the ensemble, as if hampered by the actors’ conflicting principal-photography schedules.”
He wrote: “It’s difficult to commit to the characters and their plights when the film never takes itself seriously, and the spoke-sung Sondheim songs are produced with a Teflon sheen instead of sticky, candied sugar.”
Serba praised the look of the film, though.
“The set design and art direction are otherworldly and fantastical, the hair and costumes immaculate, the special effects a perfect blend of tongue-in-cheek fakeness and tangible realism,” he wrote.
Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune said the movie is good but “also a little harried.”
He added: “It’s full of wit and feeling, guided by strong performers clearly devoted to the material and to Sondheim’s sparkling craftsmanship.”
Phillips said Into the Woods is a “tightly packed” 124 minutes that could have used another 10 or 15 minutes.
Collider reviewer Matt Goldberg expressed mixed feelings about the movie.
“At times rousingly energetic and at others confusingly restrained, Into the Woods manages to be a fun and delightful trip that provides a new look at old stories,” he wrote.
“Some minor cuts have been made to accommodate the two-hour runtime, but the loss is negligible, although the pacing can be choppy at times as the film awkward swings between storylines. Everything that’s good about the musical remains intact.”
Goldberg was no fan of the movie’s sets, though, calling them “surprisingly cheap.”
He was also not impressed with Johnny Depp’s cameo.
“Depp plays The Wolf, who mercifully only has one song, because I don’t know how much I could look at the actor prancing around in what looks like a cheap Halloween costume,” Goldberg opined. “It’s fine that the character is a distraction for Red Riding Hood (although Depp’s rendition of “Hello, Little Girl” veers between campy and pervy), but he shouldn’t be a distraction for the audience, and the faster we’re rid of him the better, especially when the rest of the cast is so phenomenal.”
At Forbes, Scott Mendelson also singled out Depp.
“You could argue that the Johnny Depp as the Big Bad Wolf material could have been cut for time, but it’s a harmless diversion and it intriguingly makes this the second major Walt Disney PG-rated fantasy film to implicitly deal with rape as a plot device,” he wrote.
Mendelson recommended Into the Woods, describing it as “genuine entertainment” with “strong performances.”
He wrote: “For those who just want a star-filled fantastical musical this Christmas, and/or you want to see a somewhat faithful adaptation of the original play, Into the Woods will fit the bill.”
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