Into the Woods - A Review
To all who are reading this,
I welcome you back to this blog of mine! I sincerely hope that your Christmas and New Year was splendid! Have you made any resolutions? I haven't made any this year, which is strange enough in itself for me.
So let us kick of 2015, as I kicked of 2014 on this blog. With a film review! There may be spoilers...
Length: 125 Minutes
Release date: 25th December 2014
Synopsis: A witch tasks a childless baker and his wife with procuring magical items from classic fairy tales to reverse the curse put on their family tree.
Genre: Adventure / Comedy / Fantasy / Musical
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Rob Marshall
Writer: James Lapine
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, Chris Pine
MPAA-Rating: PG
After being drawn in by spellbinding posters, gorgeous magazine covers and cinema trailers for a good portion of 2014, I was delighted when my partner asked if I wanted to go see this film. Not knowing a great deal about the plot was great - it meant I could sit back and really immerse myself in the story. I hadn't even known until the end credits that the film that been a stage production!
Whilst a great deal of the general public are giving this mixed reviews, I fell head over heels for this film. With Stephen Sondheim (who brought us Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) working on the musical score, it was something that I knew I would really get into it. The plot was very engaging and featured an amalgamation of popular fairy tales - notably, I could pick out the classic Cinderella from The Brothers Grimm (1812).
The film revolves around a childless couple, The Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt), who long for a baby of their own. To their shock and horror, a Witch (Meryl Streep) reveals that the family tree is cursed after the Baker's father stole from her private garden. She makes them a bargain - retrieve a selection of magical items and she will reverse the curse, all in the time limit of three days. The items are: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. As the couple set out to retrieve these items, by passing through the woods, where they run into familiar fairy tale faces.
Each fairy tale face has their own classic story to tell.
Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) mustn't stray from the path as she takes her basket of sweets to Granny's house, and not to be tempted by the Big Bad Wolf (Johnny Depp).
Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) must sell his best friend and family cow at market on the orders of his mother (Tracey Ullman) until he is distracted by magic beans which grow into a giant beanstalk.
Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) wants to go to the Prince's festival (played by Chris Pine), much to the disapproval of the Stepmother (Christine Baranski) and the two step-sisters, Florinda and Lucinda (Tammy Blanchard and Lucy Punch, respectively).
Rapunzel (Makenzie Mauzy) must let down her hair for those who call, and she finds herself falling in love with a Prince of her own (Billy Magnussen).
The biggest set is, of course, the woods themselves which are such an integral part of the story. They have gnarled branches, upturned roots, trees with and without leaves, sloping hills, dirt paths, flower fields, you name it, it's there! As you follow the characters throughout the film as they journey through the woods, you are drawn completely into the world. The tiny details make it all that more special.
A live-action Disney film is not compete without stunning, and sometimes simple, costuming. Streep's Witch, and Depp's Wolf, were just two of my favourites when it came to design. Streep's elegant, smoky make-up adorning her eyes is simplistic enough to recreate at home, making her character that slightest bit more human. Depp's is great - fur, suits, with an almost Cockney charm. The ears that poke through his hat, and his swishing tail are certainly wolf-like.
And the songs? Well, needless to say the opening number, Prologue: Into the Woods by the Main Cast, generally gets in your head, and is often mentioned through vocals throughout the film. Kendrick's vocals are a little too Broadway style for me - she's too much like a Princess, but then again, she is Cinderella... Corden is a certain surprise with his vocals. Pine and Magnussen'a duet in Agony is pure comedy on screen. Depp's deep, low vocals provide sexual undertones in Hello, Little Girl which are perfectly complimented with the naive and often sarcastic, comedic tones of Crawford. Streep, though, the woman who turned down three witch roles after turning 40, only to come back for this Sondheim work - well, she certainly steals the show. Stay With Me and Last Minute are powerful and beautifully haunting. I'm certainly going to be purchasing the soundtrack at some stage this year.
This film is great - it offers that happy ending for Disney fans, but also offers something more, which is realisation that life is really not like a fairy tale in the slightest.
Yours, with eternal ink,
Zoe
---
Currently reading: Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino
I welcome you back to this blog of mine! I sincerely hope that your Christmas and New Year was splendid! Have you made any resolutions? I haven't made any this year, which is strange enough in itself for me.
So let us kick of 2015, as I kicked of 2014 on this blog. With a film review! There may be spoilers...
Length: 125 Minutes
Release date: 25th December 2014
Synopsis: A witch tasks a childless baker and his wife with procuring magical items from classic fairy tales to reverse the curse put on their family tree.
Genre: Adventure / Comedy / Fantasy / Musical
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Rob Marshall
Writer: James Lapine
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Meryl Streep, Chris Pine
MPAA-Rating: PG
After being drawn in by spellbinding posters, gorgeous magazine covers and cinema trailers for a good portion of 2014, I was delighted when my partner asked if I wanted to go see this film. Not knowing a great deal about the plot was great - it meant I could sit back and really immerse myself in the story. I hadn't even known until the end credits that the film that been a stage production!
Whilst a great deal of the general public are giving this mixed reviews, I fell head over heels for this film. With Stephen Sondheim (who brought us Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) working on the musical score, it was something that I knew I would really get into it. The plot was very engaging and featured an amalgamation of popular fairy tales - notably, I could pick out the classic Cinderella from The Brothers Grimm (1812).
The film revolves around a childless couple, The Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt), who long for a baby of their own. To their shock and horror, a Witch (Meryl Streep) reveals that the family tree is cursed after the Baker's father stole from her private garden. She makes them a bargain - retrieve a selection of magical items and she will reverse the curse, all in the time limit of three days. The items are: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. As the couple set out to retrieve these items, by passing through the woods, where they run into familiar fairy tale faces.
Each fairy tale face has their own classic story to tell.
Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) mustn't stray from the path as she takes her basket of sweets to Granny's house, and not to be tempted by the Big Bad Wolf (Johnny Depp).
Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) must sell his best friend and family cow at market on the orders of his mother (Tracey Ullman) until he is distracted by magic beans which grow into a giant beanstalk.
Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) wants to go to the Prince's festival (played by Chris Pine), much to the disapproval of the Stepmother (Christine Baranski) and the two step-sisters, Florinda and Lucinda (Tammy Blanchard and Lucy Punch, respectively).
Rapunzel (Makenzie Mauzy) must let down her hair for those who call, and she finds herself falling in love with a Prince of her own (Billy Magnussen).
The biggest set is, of course, the woods themselves which are such an integral part of the story. They have gnarled branches, upturned roots, trees with and without leaves, sloping hills, dirt paths, flower fields, you name it, it's there! As you follow the characters throughout the film as they journey through the woods, you are drawn completely into the world. The tiny details make it all that more special.
A live-action Disney film is not compete without stunning, and sometimes simple, costuming. Streep's Witch, and Depp's Wolf, were just two of my favourites when it came to design. Streep's elegant, smoky make-up adorning her eyes is simplistic enough to recreate at home, making her character that slightest bit more human. Depp's is great - fur, suits, with an almost Cockney charm. The ears that poke through his hat, and his swishing tail are certainly wolf-like.
And the songs? Well, needless to say the opening number, Prologue: Into the Woods by the Main Cast, generally gets in your head, and is often mentioned through vocals throughout the film. Kendrick's vocals are a little too Broadway style for me - she's too much like a Princess, but then again, she is Cinderella... Corden is a certain surprise with his vocals. Pine and Magnussen'a duet in Agony is pure comedy on screen. Depp's deep, low vocals provide sexual undertones in Hello, Little Girl which are perfectly complimented with the naive and often sarcastic, comedic tones of Crawford. Streep, though, the woman who turned down three witch roles after turning 40, only to come back for this Sondheim work - well, she certainly steals the show. Stay With Me and Last Minute are powerful and beautifully haunting. I'm certainly going to be purchasing the soundtrack at some stage this year.
This film is great - it offers that happy ending for Disney fans, but also offers something more, which is realisation that life is really not like a fairy tale in the slightest.
Yours, with eternal ink,
Zoe
---
Currently reading: Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino
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