I'm surprised that Rob Marshall hasn't directed many movies in his career, probably because I've seen most of his movies and they all had a lasting impression; especially musicals.
So if anyone was going to bring Into The Woods to the silver screen, it'd be him.
James Lapine, who wrote the musical with Stephen Sondheim, adapted his own screenplay for the movie.
The opening number was brilliant. A great way to introduce each character with James Corden on narration duties as well. I thought Lilla Crawford, who looked so familiar somehow, had one of the sharpest singing voices that cut through everything else. Plus she's quite a good actress.
But when it came to singing, everyone was commendable. Anna Kendrick's vocal qualities were one of the best. Meryl Streep's first scenes were very strong and I saw why she got nominated for the Best Actress category straight away even though I don't agree that she should be nominated from the pool of selection we had this year.
The way the story unfolded, particularly of the four things that Corden and Emily Blunt's characters had to seek out, was the backbone and tied everyone together. And each subplot blended in together very nicely.
But once that part of the story was done, a new story began indicating that there's no "living happily ever after". I believe this was where the movie lost most of its audience.
Streep's Witch came and went almost without rhyme or reason. That pit she "created" also came out of nowhere. Chris Pine's and Billy Magnussen's subplots never had a proper ending. And overall, the ending was a very weak compared to how the movie began.
But one thing I really liked about the movie was how it addressed infatuation as opposed to true love, as if to dispel or poke fun at the Disney classic animations.
Had the movie ended at the happily ever after mark - the way Disney always likes it, this may have been a much better movie.
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