Walt Disney Pictures and producer-director Rob Marshall (“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” 2011) did an outstanding job of adapting a Tony Award winning musical into motion picture form. “Into the Woods,” written by Stephen Sondheim and James Lupine, is a unique combined retelling of four Brothers Grimm fairy tales: “Cinderella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Rapunzel.”
Lupine’s tuneful screenplay gives some well known actors a chance to demonstrate their largely unknown musical adeptness: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Chris Pine, Tracey Williams, and Christine Baranski. Others include James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Lilla Crawford, MacKenzie Mausy, Billy Magnussen, Tammy Blanchard, Lucy Punch, Annette Crosbie, Joanna Riding, Frances de la Tour, Richard Glover, and Simon Russell Beale. Only Johnny Depp comes across as a weirdo in a small role as the Wolf.
The very watchable “Into the Woods” provides fantastic family entertainment for kids of all ages, a success in theatrical release.
Into the Woods (2014)
cinema
My Review
Walt Disney Pictures and producer-director Rob Marshall (“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” 2011) did an outstanding job of adapting a Tony Award winning musical into motion picture form. “Into the Woods,” written by Stephen Sondheim and James Lupine, is a unique combined retelling of four Brothers Grimm fairy tales: “Cinderella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” and “Rapunzel.”
Lupine’s tuneful screenplay gives some well known actors a chance to demonstrate their largely unknown musical adeptness: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Chris Pine, Tracey Williams, and Christine Baranski. Others include James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Lilla Crawford, MacKenzie Mausy, Billy Magnussen, Tammy Blanchard, Lucy Punch, Annette Crosbie, Joanna Riding, Frances de la Tour, Richard Glover, and Simon Russell Beale. Only Johnny Depp comes across as a weirdo in a small role as the Wolf.
The very watchable “Into the Woods” provides fantastic family entertainment for kids of all ages, a success in theatrical release.