First of all this is a motion picture remake of a musical. For some reason it seems most people are completely unaware of that and have never even heard of musical. . Second, the music is by Stephen Sondheim. If you don't know who he is you must live under a rock. He is a composer and lyricist known for things like Sweeny Todd and West Side Story. It seems like most people think Disney came up with the music for this. Third, these are the original Grimm Brothers versions of the tales, not the edited for children Disney versions. It also seems that a lot of people only know the "kid" versions and were appalled that the step sisters get their feet cut and eyes poked out. Read the original stories, that's how they go. The good: I thought it was very well cast. If you've seen the play I think you'd agree. (except Bernadette Peters made a much better witch on Broadway) The vocals were moderately good to great. I really don't understand why people are complaining about the vocals. The scenery and costumes were good. As for turning this into a movie, well... they tried. A for Effort. The bad: This is supposed to be funny!! There is a ton of humor in it which is completely lost in the movie. All the funny lines were delivered seriously which made most of it creepy and weird and most of the movie, boring. Also, they cut out the whole middle of the play! Including some of the best songs. What were they thinking? One major role was completely missing. The ending was changed in several places. Also, if Broadway musicals were rated it would be PG 13. So why in the world did they try to make this look like something for children? Although they toned down a few things to make it more child friendly but it is still not a story for young kids. Overall I didn't think it was as horrible as most reviewers did but I still like the 1988 Original Broadway Cast version (which you can get on DVD) much better.
Review of Into the Woods
