Oscars Countdown 2015 - Into the Woods

Ensign Lestat's Oscars Countdown, 25/01/2015

Into the Woods

Nominations - Best Supporting Actress (Meryl Streep), Best Costume Design, Best Production Design

Aye, musicals. Always such a good idea, usually such a pathetic end-product. I'm not a musical fan, heck, I don't even like the theatre. The only time I head to the theatre is when I have ulterior motives (like listening to two hours of ABBA songs).

For reasons beyond me, my family was initially excited to watch 'Into the Woods', but they all backed out once they heard it was... a musical. I soldiered through it because... Oscars! Despite its meagre three nominations, I decided that I must have an informed opinion and sat through the film.

ITW (I'm going to call it that from now on) is a mash-up of as many popular fairy tales as you can remember put together with a common antagonist - The Witch!!!!! Played by Meryl Streep.

She is the common thread between all the extraneous characters - there's the baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt), Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Red Riding Hood and Jack (of beanstalk fame). Oh yeah, there's also Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy), her prince (no, really, that's what he's credited as), played by Billy Magnussen and Cinderella's prince (Chris Pine). That's a lot of people. None of whom are people of colour, by the way. By dint of this film being about fairy tales, everyone is white. Let's not start with that. Diversity, thy name is not Hollywood.

Anyway, the crazy witch sends the baker and his wife on a mad crusade which finds them crossing roads with the rest of the characters.

The film is weird. It's based on a successful play, and translates well to the screen, but it never quite feels... magical. It's been nominated for production design - and while some of the sets are truly spectacular, they are so only because I imagined how great they would have looked on a stage. But in the film, only one scene stood out (when the witch is sucked into a hole, I don't remember why). Other than that, the sets seem a little staccato, much like a theatre production.

The story unfolds in two halves. Spoilers ensue, so beware.

The first half is our introduction to the characters - this part is essentially a retelling of the fairy tales, except, all the interesting parts are left out. Rapunzel's prince inexplicably falls in love with her; Jack keeps getting riches from the giants who we never meet; Cinderella keeps running away from a party we never see her attend, and so on. Even the big bad wolf is done away with off-screen.

This part is rushed so that the writers can get to the real story, which is... insane. And really depressing. I kid you not. Just when it appears to be happy ever after, a giant attacks the kingdom. In the process, Jack's mum is pushed and accidentally killed, Red Riding Hood's home is destroyed along with her grandmother, Cinderella hears from a bunch of birds (she talks to them, I don't know how that figures into the tale, but it's there), that her new husband has cheated on her. By the way, the cheating is done with the baker's wife, a new mum. The witch, who has kept Rapunzel locked up all these years, abandons her on some creepy island. Oh wait, that was beforehand. In the second half actually, Rapunzel and her prince run away and aren't seen again.

But back to the depressing part. After cheating on her husband, the baker's wife dies, leaving the baker to care and weep over the new baby. It's a dark tale, told with upbeat but forgettable music. Also, the baker keeps outsourcing the care of his baby to the ladies of the group. He and Jack kill the lady giant intent on destroying the kingdom, while the girls stay safe and take care of the kid. This film is sexist and racist!

I'll be honest and say my interest in the film was piqued by the thought of Chris Pine singing. Everyone sings well, Streep tries too hard, however, and her Oscar nomination baffles me. Her performance doesn't stand out, in fact, it's poor. Blunt and Corden are good though, and I didn't know either of them could sing, so that's a revelation.

I mentioned Pine was the one I wanted to watch, but the star of this show is Magnussen. I've never seen him before, and scoffed when I saw him, but he has a stunning, theatrical and powerful voice. His sing-off with Pine didn't just outshine the latter, it brought him down several pegs in my estimation. Pine labours under the effort, spending the entirety of his screen time intoning uncomfortably. Magnussen on the other hand is effortless. His performance outside of singing is natural. I enjoyed that sing-off because of his expressions as he attempts to out-do the other arrogant prince. There's a future for this lad - as long as it consists of lots of singing.

A part of me was looking forward to this film, but it was never going to be my type. I didn't care for any of the songs, or the story line. The lack of diversity and its lack of subversion just killed the effect of it. I am not sure how this can be considered a children's film (I believe that's how it was marketed), because it's dark and pretty depressing. Fairy tales just don't belong in today's world. 'Into the Woods' is no different.

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