I finally got the chance to see "Into the Woods" - the fairy tale musical by Stephan Sondheim. I LOVE fantasy movies with WITCHES in them, and I LOVE musicals, so I was right in my element.
It's a mash-up of a bunch of classic fairy tales, all interwoven together with the addition of a new fairytale - "the Baker and his Wife". All the characters overlap each other as their stories are told. The first half of the movie moves very quickly, as we already know their tales: Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Ridding Hood, & Rapunzel. The second half deals with their lives after "happily ever after". It's a story about relationships, parents & children, and ultimately... survival.
Sondheim classic Broadway score is wonderful. The first half is almost entirely in song. (You leave the theater singing the title song - it's stuck in my head!!)
Colleen Atwood did the costumes (Maleficent, Snow White & the Huntsman), which were wonderful.
Here's Meryl Streep as the wicked, ugly hag-witch:
And, here's Meryl, transformed into the beautiful, slightly less evil witch:
Johnny Depp has a small cameo as the Wolf, dressed in a '40s zoot suit (inspired by the old Tex Avery's cartoon wolves):
And, just for eye-candy, here are the deliciously handsome Billy Magnussen & Christopher Pine as the two Princes. They do a very funny duet, "Agony" about the torture of being in love and cursed with such beauty:
(oh, those dimples!!)
(could his eyes be any blue-er??)
Chris Pine gets the best line in the whole movie. When asked by Cinderella to explain his brief infidelity after they are married, he responds:
"Sorry. I was raised to be charming, not sincere."