Meryl Streep leads the all star cast of Into the Woods, the film version of Stephen Sondheim's 1987 Broadway musical that intertwines fairy tale stories that we all know and grew up with and this time with new characters such as Streep's The Witch to form an original story.
When the Witch tasks a childless baker and his wife (James Corden and Emily Blunt who have great chemistry together) to find four items to reverse a curse, that's when the fun part of the movie begins. Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, Lilla Crawford as Red Riding Hood and Daniel Huttlestone as Jack all have great pipes but the biggest surprise of the film was Chris Pine, who was a scene stealer as Prince Charming. Who knew that he could sing well or even be funny??!! Acclaimed veteran comic actresses Christine Baranski as Cinderella's Stepmother and Tracey Ullman as Jack's mother provide great support
as well as Johnny Depp playing Mr. Wolf in a variation of his regular quirky character that he usually does in most of his films.
The songs aren't as memorable and the second half of the film which veers towards adult territory but aided by an excellent ensemble and great cinematography and costume design by Oscar winners Dion Beebe and Colleen Atwood repsectively, director Rob Marshall redeems himself from his last musical that bombed both at the box office and with the critics - Nine. Into the Woods is his best film since the Oscar winning Chicago.
