The cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, the slipper as pure as gold. What do all of these things have in common? You need them all to break the curse. “Into The Woods” is not your typical fairy tale. When you venture into the woods, you find you are a different person than you were before. You learn things you never knew and probably didn’t want to know, and the truth behind happily ever after.

This movie was adapted to screen from a theatrical play that started in 1986. The message still resonates today in the modern world. In the story, a baker and his wife search through the woods for four objects that will break the curse the witch has set upon their family in order to have a baby. The objects they have to retrieve are all connected to other fairy tales taking place in the story. Jack and the Beanstalk, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Little Red Riding Hood. All of the characters have wishes they want fulfilled, and their wishes are eventually granted. Except, after they have what they want, they find they don’t really want it anymore.

The Prologue song had overlapping singing that was done quite well, a thumbs up to the sound editors for that one. For the song “No One Is Alone” that occurred later in the movie, the harmony absolutely amazed me. The combination of Lilla Crawford (Red Riding Hood), Anna Kendrick (Cinderella), James Corden (Baker), and Daniel Huttlestone (Jack) and their voices makes for a remarkable rendition of the song.

Red Riding Hood appeared as a humorous and adorable character, but Lilla Crawford could have done a better job with her acting. She seemed more of a singer than an actress, because her voice was the better portion of her performance in this movie.

By adapting “Into The Woods” to a movie, it allows for better views of the story including setting and characters. The camera work and effects of a movie gives the audience a broader view of the story, which was done well in this case. However, at some points the camera angles were strange and uncomfortable.

Within this cast of all star singers, I recognized one actor very quickly from his emotional performance in Les Miserables as Gavroche. For “Into The Woods,” Daniel Huttlestone played Jack. He did very well in his acting and singing role, hitting a powerful note while singing “Giants In The Sky.”

Meryl Streep was the best out of all of the wonderful cast. She led the parade of amazing singers, her voice at some times carrying the most beautiful note, then shaking with emotion at just the right moments. She made the witch seem more quirky than scary, which is not often exhibited in play versions of the story.

The princes of the movie, hands down, had the funniest songs in the movie. Chris Pine (Cinderellas Prince) and Billy Magnussen (Rapunzels Prince) worked so well together during the song Agony that it was even funnier than any play versions of “Into The Woods” that I have seen.

You might have recognized another kind of giant in the movie, Francis de la Tour also played Madame Maxime, the very tall woman in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” that had a love connection with Hagrid. Another familiar character was one of Cinderella’s stepsisters, played by Lucy Punch, who also starred in “Ella Enchanted” as the evil stepsister. She seemed to keep up with the role of the annoying and hated character, as I remember her performance as Amy Squirrel in “Bad Teacher.”

They did miss out on the father of the baker, which was a big part of the story in the play, but it didn’t affect the story too much to not have him in the movie. The end of the play usually has a very big note in the finale song into the woods, but it ended on a softer note that left me disappointed.

With this movie having high expectations to work up to, it was better than I expected it to be. With its additions to scenes, songs, and performance of characters as well as subtractions of characters and small details, this movie turned out quite well, possibly even better than the play. Without the hindrance of a stage, the setting was greatly improved.

4/5 Stars