Into the Woods Official Movie Thread — Page 166

Personally my biggest beef with the second half of the musical is that when LRRH mentions that they shouldn't be trying to kill the giant because "she's a person, and shouldn't that be wrong?" She never gets an answer. And it's actually a darn good question. "She's hurting people" doesn't seem to be a complete enough answer - why does she have to be killed?

But then, a lot of musicals have problems with their second acts, and Sondheim is no exception. The first act of "Sunday in the Park with George" is brilliant, but the second act never quite finds its voice. Setup is easy; resolution is hard!

sarahb- The line in the show (it may have changed in the movie) is "But the giant is a person. Aren't we to show forgiveness? Mother will be very unhappy with these circumstances."

The brilliance is that she DOESN'T get an answer because there IS no real "answer." Is the Witch wrong for wanting to give jack to the Giantess, when the cold hard facts are that he stole from them and killed her husband and his actions are mainly responsible for the horrible events that have transpired from the Giantess coming down the second beanstalk?

Are the Baker, LRRH and Cinderella wrong for not wanting to sacrifice a child to a Giantess who, though her anger is valid, HAS been causing distress and chaos to a community of many innocent people?

You decide what's right. You decide what's good. Mother cannot guide you.

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As true as that is about you decide, it is ultimately the Witch's fault for the beans' existence.

And if she wasn't at fault for the beans and what happened when they were given away, then she wouldn't have been so careless with them when she said, "Here you want a bean?" and starts tossing them haphazardly.

Sure one could blame Jack, but what Jack did was wonder around and when the Giant saw him he wasn't too keen and chased him despite the fact his wife embraced him.

It's quite careless, as well, for the Giant to follow someone down a stalk he's never been down before and then think that the person he's following will allow him to do so.

Had the giant not been so angry over something so little as a visitor his wife welcomed, the events wouldn't have transpired as they had and had the Witch not have had beans that she did't keep a good eye on, none of this would have happened and then we wouldn't have such a great musical with fantastic points to discuss.

The new clip was wonderful!

About the reviews:

I agree that most of the negative one's do not really get the show. Act 2 is what really makes Into the Woods so special and wonderful! So, with that said, I really am only going to take the positive reviews seriously, because the positive reviews seem to "get it", and do not write out of disappointment that it is not the stage show.



When is the New York Times review coming out? When is Deadline coming out also, because if Pete Hammond's early reaction tweets are anything to go by, the review will be a rave!




5 more midnights!

^Yeah, it was posted, but it's a nice featurette so it deserves to be posted twice!


Side Question: How do you embed a Youtube video?

I love this poster

Updated On: 12/20/14 at 09:11 PM

It is really bizarre that with the strong vibe this film is getting, Disney chose only one critic to quote in Sunday's New York Times ad, and it is Richie Ridge from BWW. Remember..he LOVED the Jersey Boys film. He pretty much LOVES everything. I Loved the film as well. but really? Richard Ridge? Look for the ad on his Instagram. I can't figure out how to post it.

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Updated On: 12/20/14 at 10:07 PM

Thank God Sofia Grace Brownlee dropped out of this film and Lilla Crawford got the role. She is perfection.

She is a standout in her role. She's hysterical, got amazing pipes and just gets that teen [as she is one] attitude that Red needs. I would actually be interested to see what they were planning on doing before the recast...I mean, really, who thought casting that girl was smart to begin with? After seeing Lilla in it, I couldn't imagine that little girl even trying to get through the opening number.

Updated On: 12/21/14 at 01:33 AM

@MagicalMusical, that's right. Crawford and Huttlestone are of age, so I don't see what the critics are complaining about.

And Lilla almost sounds like Danielle Ferland and it's great!

And Carlos, that French poster is perfect

Updated On: 12/21/14 at 07:56 AM

Thank you Carlos.. Will be curious to see if they run the Richie Ridge quote anywhere else or if it is only in the New York paper. Really... They might as well have quoted Corine Cohen.

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Just to be clear, I ave NO problem with the tonal shift in act two of the play. In fact, when I showed it to my students, they didn't seem to have a problem with it either. Marshall's handling of that shift is where I have a problem. Given that I still think the rest of the movie is brilliant, it's really just that five minute change that felt really awkward to me.

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