Into The Woods Film Analysis

Imagine a scenario in which the characters of Grimm’s fairy tales become intertwined into one storyline, but with a modern twist on the idealism of fairy tales. Moreover, such an instance comes to life with “Into the Woods.” Furthermore, the film adaptation of the Broadway play bolsters the dark but satirical tone through its whimsical yet grimy sets, and its mysterious lighting, and generally impressive special effects. Additionally, the social status of the characters is often told through the costumes they wear. The songs in this musical, many of which were based on the play, were supported through the background music, of which helps to establish the emotions during said songs. However, while the film adaptation reuses certain parts

Furthermore, the colors of the light, primarily shades of blue and yellow, can indicate the moods of specific scenes. For example, after the “earthquake,” the woods of which the characters are in are darkly lit with shades of blue. On the other hand, when the heroes defeat the Giant and the kingdom is saved, the world is bathed in warm yellow light. To help create the atmosphere of the movie comes the use of smoke and shadows, to add to the mystique of the woods. One scene in which lighting plays a vital role is in the Witch’s introduction, where she tells the Baker and the Baker’s Wife that she cursed their family. Furthermore, the light at the door where she enters is completely white, placing the Witch in complete shadow. But in order to create a truly immersive experience in any film, the sound must draw the audience to what they are seeing. In a musical, the importance of this increases. Thankfully, not only does the film manage to uphold the catchy tunes of the original play, the background music and sound effects harmoniously support them. Furthermore, the music that plays with the songs helps to set the mood, whether it is whimsical and light-hearted or dark and ominous. Unlike the play, this version of “Into the Woods” included an extensive amount of special effects, which make sense, considering that film grants those liberties to its creators. For example, effects such

Furthermore, the production design, with the help of a strong direction, immersed me more into the story than the play did. Additionally, I enjoyed the actors more as a whole than in the play, partly due to familiarity, but also because they conveyed the story better and had better chemistry than their Broadway counterparts. Of them, my personal favorites were Meryl Streep’s sinister Witch, James Corden’s struggling Baker and Emily Blunt as his Wife, Anna Kendrick’s indecisive Cinderella, and Daniel Huttlestone as the youthful and naive Jack. On the flip side, actors that I did not enjoy were usually those who were treated like plot devices, like Mackenzie Mauzy’s Rapunzel and Billy Magnussen as her prince, both of which felt like inferior versions of the characters that Anna Kendrick and Chris Pine play. However, the film did manage to cut back on certain characters, and I was pleased with director Rob Marshall’s choice to cut out the narrator, which not only removed one less person to hog up the screen, but also made more sense since the story ends with Corden’s Baker telling the story back to his son. Unfortunately, the plot often depended too much on convenience, narration, and exposition, which bogged down the film. Also, the final frantic forty-five minutes fail to live up to what came before it. Of the scenes in the movie, my two personal favorites were the prologue and the “Your Fault” scene.