This is “Into the Woods,” Stephen Sondheim’s musical about fairy tales. Disney and Rob Marshall have brought it to the big screen, working with Sondheim and James Lapine. And being a musical theater geek, of course I saw it.
I had some hesitation when I saw Disney was going to produce the film. Since I was familiar with the stage show, I knew there was a chance it was going to be changed to fit more with the Disney tone. Especially when fairy tales are so synonymous with “Walt Disney.” But it wasn’t as bad as I had initially feared. In fact, it was still very good.
Into the SPOILERS!
The movie is narrated by the Baker (James Corden) and he introduces us to most of our main players. There is Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), who lives with her stepmother (Christine Baranski) and stepsisters (Lucy Punch, Tammy Blanchard). They work the poor girl to death and insult her the entire time. Cinderella asks to go to the king’s festival and her stepmother agrees—provided she can pick up all the lentils from the fireplace. Cinderella enlists the help of her bird friends but the stepmother still refuses since Cinderella has only rags to wear. After her stepfamily leaves, she decides to go to her mother’s graves and heads into the woods.
Jack (Tom Huddlestone) is a young boy who is often found irritating his mother (Tracey Ullman). They are poor and in need of money. The mother tells Jack he must take his beloved cow, Milky White, to market to be sold as she’s no longer producing milk. Jack tries to protest but she is insistent. With instructions to go to the next town and fetch no less than 5 pounds for Milky White, Jack heads into the woods.
Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) enters the bakery to buy some baked goods for her grandmother. She’s going to visit the sick woman and wants to bring her food. Of course, she’s already eating them so Granny’s probably not going to get much by way of food. The Baker (James Corden) is not too keen on giving away so much free food but his wife (Emily Blunt) has no problem. Loaded with goodies, Little Red heads into the woods.
The Baker and his wife are visited by their next door neighbor, the Witch (Meryl Streep). She reveals that she has a long history with the Baker’s family after catching his father stealing vegetables from her gardens while his mother was pregnant with his sibling. The Witch lets him take the produce in exchange for the child, a girl. But she didn’t know the man had also stolen some of her beans and she was punished for letting the magical beans leave her garden. So she punished him further by cursing the Baker to never have children. However, she offers to undo the curse if the Baker brings her four ingredients for a potion: the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn and the slipper as gold. They have three midnights to bring her the ingredients and she orders them to go into the woods.
All of that was told in just the opening number (“Into the Woods”).
In the woods, Cinderella asks her mother to go to the festival and her spirit grants her daughter’s wish (“Cinderella at the Grave”). Cinderella is bedecked in a beautiful gold gown with matching slippers, allowing her to go off to the festival and dance with the prince. Meanwhile, Little Red encounters a Tex Avery style wolf (Johnny Depp) who persuades her to take a detour on her way to Granny’s so he has time to eat them both (“Hello, Little Girl”). The Baker comes across her and tries to take her cape from her. It does not go well and the Baker runs off, trying to figure out how he’ll ever get the needed ingredients.
He ends up running into his wife, who has gone after him to give him his scarf. She had also wanted to go but he had put the kibosh on that. Now that she’s in the woods, she asks to stay. The Baker tries to send her home but Jack and Milky White come upon them. Together, the Baker and his wife manage to exchange Milky White for five of the beans the Witch had left behind. Jack runs home while the Baker orders his wife home with Milky White.
Little Red comes upon her Granny’s house and is unnerved by the open the door. She enters anyway and is eaten by the Wolf. Her screams attract the Baker, who rushes to Granny’s. He finds the Wolf asleep and cuts his stomach open, freeing Granny and Little Red. As a thank you, Red gives the Baker her cape and sings about what she’s learned (“I Know Things Now”). Excited, the Baker rushes off.
Night falls as the Baker’s Wife tries to make her way home with Milky White. She has a near collision with Cinderella, who is running from the Festival. She tells the Baker’s Wife that she spent the day dancing with the Prince but got scared. The Baker’s Wife continues to press her for more information (“He’s a Very Nice Prince”). She then notices Cinderella’s golden slippers and tries to steal one. Cinderella runs off, asking the Baker’s Wife to lie, as the Prince (Chris Pine) approaches. The woman lies about seeing Cinderella and the Prince rides off. Milky White also runs off.
As she tries to find Milky White, she runs into her husband again. She confesses she lost the cow and they argue before being interrupted by the Witch. She reveals that one midnight has passed and orders them to keep looking for the ingredients or else no child. The Baker orders his wife to go home as he sets about trying to find the cow.
Jack, meanwhile, has returned home. His mother is not pleased to find he exchanged their cow for worthless beans. She throws them into the yard and is unaware that they grew into a giant beanstalk until its leaves wake her up the next morning. She finds Jack climbing down, carrying lots of gold. He rushes off to find the Baker and tries to buy back Milky White. The Baker is astonished at how big the coins are and Jack tells him how he came by them (“Giants in the Sky”). The Baker can’t bring himself to tell Jack that he lost Milky White and that he has no intention of selling the cow back yet so Jack assumes the Baker wants more gold. He runs off to get it.
Another prince (Billy Magnussen) follows the sound of singing to a tower in the middle of the woods. There, he spies Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) as she stares out the window of her room. The Witch approaches and asks her to let down her hair. As she climbs, the prince takes notes. He then rides off. Up in the tower, Rapunzel asks to leave but the Witch refuses. She tells Rapunzel growing up isn’t so great and that the world is dangerous (“Stay With Me”).
In the woods, Rapunzel’s prince crosses paths with Cinderella’s Prince, who is his brother. They commiserate together in what could arguably be considered the movie’s best scene (“Agony”). Oh the ham! It is glorious.
Meanwhile, the Baker’s Wife has overheard the part about the maiden in a tower with hair as yellow as corn. So she goes off to the tower to get some. Fooling Rapunzel into thinking she’s the prince, the Baker’s Wife manages to get some of the hair and goes running off into the woods. Night falls and Cinderella pulls another runner. The Baker’s Wife tries to pull a shoe off but Cinderella is stronger. The Prince stops to ask the woman about Cinderella but realizes she can’t provide much information. He rides off with his search party.
The Baker ends up running into his wife and they find Milky White. With three ingredients, things are looking good for them. The Baker even agrees to let his wife come along, realizing they work better as a team (“It Takes Two”). Jack stumbles upon them, demanding they return Milky White to him. They refuse, trying to explain that they need the cow. Jack makes a ruckus and in the middle of the arguing, Milky White keels over—dead. Distraught, Jack runs off while The Baker and his wife try to figure out what to do next. It is decided the Baker will go to the next town to find a white cow while the Baker’s Wife waits to get Cinderella’s slipper.
As Jack runs through the woods, he encounters Little Red. She’s now wearing a cape made from the wolf’s fur. And she has a knife for protection, which she pulls on Jack. He assures her he doesn’t want to hurt her and then talks about the gold he saw in the giant’s house. Gold like the harp which plays by itself. She dares him to get it so he goes back up the beanstalk. When he comes back down, he is being pursued by the giant and he so he chops down the beanstalk, killing the giant.
The Witch discovers that Rapunzel has been sneaking a prince into her room. She creates a patch of thorns which the prince gets thrown into and ends up blinded. Rapunzel is terrified and demands to know what her mother did to her prince. The Witch says she’s going to have to take Rapunzel far away and cuts her hair as well.
That night, Cinderella runs from the festival again. But this time, she is caught on the steps in a trap laid out by the prince. Cinderella takes stock of her situation and decides to leave a shoe behind before running off again (“On the Steps of the Palace”).
The Prince gives chase as Cinderella once again encounters the Baker’s Wife. She explains she needs Cinderella’s slipper to have a child. “That makes NO sense,” Cinderella shoots back. The Baker’s Wife tries to exchange a bean for it, but Cinderella tosses it aside. So then the Baker’s Wife suggests a shoe swap, she agrees.
Returning with a white cow, the Baker and his wife go to find the Witch. She reveals though that the cow is only covered in flour. The Baker reveals they had a cow but she died and he figured the Witch wanted a live cow. She says she does and she can bring the dead cow back to life. They find Jack and his mother at Milky White’s body and the Witch revives her. She orders the Baker to start feeding the ingredients to the cow and Jack offers to milk her. When the Witch tries her potion, nothing happens. She learns that the hair came from Rapunzel, meaning she touched it. Her one condition was that she couldn’t touch the ingredients. But Jack saves the day—he points out that corn has hair so maybe they can use it. It works. The Witch becomes beautiful, blue haired Meryl Streep and the Baker’s Wife immediately becomes pregnant.
Meanwhile, the prince decrees that every woman in the land will try on the shoe left on the palace stairs. He eventually reaches Cinderella’s house. Her stepmother is determined to have one of her girls marry the prince. To the point she hacks off a toe on one and part of the heel of another. Both times, though, they are found out. In the end, Cinderella comes out and tries on the shoe. But her prince has recognized her before that. He’s going to marry her! And the birds descend to peck out the stepsisters’ eyes. (All of this, by the way, is included in the Grimm Brothers’ original telling of Cinderella).
Rapunzel has been exiled to a tiny island in the middle of a swamp. She lays on her side, crying when her prince rides up. He recognizes the sound of Rapunzel’s voice and they are reunited. She learns he is blind and starts crying again. Her tears land on his eyes, restoring his sight. Yay!
And so it came to pass, that all that was once wrong was now right. And those who deserved to were certain to live a long and happy life.
On stage, those words lead into the first act finale “Ever After.” Here in the film, it’s been removed though you can hear the melody in the background. Cinderella and her Prince get married. Rapunzel and her Prince are together. The Baker and his Wife have their son and Jack and his mother are very wealthy. Red’s…Red.
There’s also another beanstalk and a giantess (Frances de la Tour) comes down to avenge the death of her son. She starts leaving mass destruction wherever she goes and makes it so that everyone gets lost in the woods. The Baker and his Wife come across Jack’s Mother and agree to help her get home. They also encounter Cinderella’s family, who are going into hiding with the royal steward, as well as the Witch.
As they try to figure out where they are going, the giantess comes up on them. She demands that they turn over Jack so she can get revenge for her dead husband. Jack’s mother is defiant and insists that she won’t let any harm come to her son. The steward shushes her, pushing her down in the process. They appease the giantess, who goes off to destroy more of the woods. At this time, the Baker realizes Jack’s mother is injured and near death. The steward apologizes and then hurries Cinderella’s family further into the woods. The Baker and his wife stay with Jack’s mother until she dies off screen, promising to find Jack.
They go through the woods and find Little Red crying on a stump. She tells them that their village has been destroyed and her mother is dead. So she was on her way to live with Granny but she got lost. She also fears Granny is dead. The Baker and his wife take her into their care. They decide the best is to separate, count 500 paces, turn around and come back to report what they find. They leave their son in Little Red’s care.
As he goes through the woods, the Baker stumbles upon Cinderella. She explains she snuck out of the palace to check on her mother’s grave. It’s been destroyed. She tells the Baker she’s lost so he takes her back with him.
Meanwhile, the Baker’s Wife ends up running into the Prince. She tells him that a Giantess is on the loose and he has to save them. He agrees…and then kisses her. He persuades her to do a lot more kissing (“Moments in the Woods”), which is toned down from the musical. After a few more kisses, the Prince rides off to fight the giantess. The Baker’s Wife regains her bearings before trying to find her way back. But she and the Prince danced her off her path and she gets lost. The Giantess walks through woods and the Baker’s Wife loses her footing and falls to her death.
The Witch discovers Rapunzel at the ruins of her tower. The Prince shows up as well, asking her why she ran. Rapunzel admits that she was frightened, so she came back to the tower. The Witch tries to chase the Prince away but soon discovers she has no magical powers. She is no longer a threat and Rapunzel lays into her for how she raised her. She then rides off with the Prince. Bye, Rapunzel. Your storyline was now pointless. (Spoiler: In the stage show, Rapunzel dies and her prince is as big of a douchecanoe as Cinderella’s).
The Baker waits for his wife as Cinderella takes care of his son. They hear something in the brush, but it’s Jack. He’s looking for his mother and the Baker has to break the news to him. He then realizes that Jack is wearing his wife’s scarf. Jack then has to tell him that his wife is dead. The Baker has a breakdown and decides he can’t raise a child. So he storms off to mourn his wife. While out there, his father appears to him to apologize and convince him to go back to be a father to his own son (“No More”).
So the Baker returns as the Witch does as well. The small group tries to figure out how they got into this position, passing the blame around until they reach the Witch (“Your Fault”). She then lets them have it until she disappears after tossing away all her beans (“Last Midnight”).
Alone, the Baker leads his little team in a plan to defeat the Giantess. Cinderella enlists the help of her bird friends, learning of the Prince’s infidelity. She dismisses that and Red has this reaction to the whole thing:
So, what’s the plan? They use Jack as bait and lure the Giantess into a tar pit. When she’s trapped, they pelt her with rocks using slingshots. As the girls wait, Red confides in Cinderella about being alone. Cinderella assures her that she has people supporting her while the Baker tells Jack the same thing (“No One is Alone”).
The plan works and the Giantess is defeated. Cinderella talks with her Prince and they decide to part ways. She agrees to live with the Baker, his son, Jack and Red as they set about rebuilding their lives after the woods. The Baker tries to figure out how to be a father and gets some advice from the ghost of his wife. As he starts to tell his son their story, the Witch sings us out (“Children Will Listen”).
And thus ends “Into the Woods.”
The cast was fantastic. Can I say that James Corden has been robbed this awards season? He was amazing in this. So was Emily Blunt. While Meryl Streep was good, I don’t know why she keeps getting nominated over Blunt. Also, more singing roles for Chris Pine! How did he manage to keep that skill hidden? I love Mackenzie Mauzy on Forever and would’ve liked to see her do more here. Billy Magnussen as well.
Marshall’s direction was good, understanding the differences between film and stage. Sondheim’s score is as gorgeous as ever and I encourage everyone to look up the songs that were cut. They are gorgeous. And despite some concerns, the show’s major themes were not lost: Be careful what you wish for because it may last past what you can see and turn against you.
So go see this. Note to parents: Despite the Disney name and the inclusion of fairy tale characters, this is not meant for little children. As you can tell, the second act gets dark very quick. It may frighten them.
Note to those suffering from epilepsy or seizures: There are several moments that feature effects that could trigger seizures, especially around the Witch.
Into the woods and out of the woods and happy ever after!
I wish.
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