Into the Woods Official Movie Thread — Page 176

Favorite reviews from Fandango.com:

I wish I didn't bring my small daughter to see this movie, now she's confused, why would Cinderella's prince cheat on her? Too weird for the kids to appreciate the story.

I am so frustrated right now, that I spent part of my Christmas day watching this horrible movie. It had so many stars and so much promise, but fell WAY short of the goal. The actual singing was terrific, but the songs were awful and repetitive; they all sounded exactly the same. The movie started out great, but then quickly, I learned that we'd be going nowhere fast. Nothing fit together or made any kind of sense, and the last 20 minutes really made me scratch my head. Whoever adapted this must have been smoking something very powerful to string this all together. Perhaps the point they started to lose me, was when Red Riding Hood and the Wolf (Johnny Depp) met in the forest. That had to be THE single most uncomfortable moment on the big screen I've ever seen. Instead of the predator/prey relationship you'd expect, there was this awful pedophile vibe that was clear even to my 11 year old. Just awful.

By far the worst movie I have ever seen. The story, overacting, characters, etc. were simply unwatchable. And the themes ... don't get me started. All I saw was a movie that seemed give positive light to child predatory behavior (really Depp???), adultery, theft and countless versions of selfishness, deceit, etc. etc. I am not a prude and don't even have kids, but how on earth could this movie be marketed for children. I would have walked out (for the first time ever) if I did not have to climb over 10 people to leave. A dreadful 2.5 hours.

Was told that this was nominated for all kinds of awards. Impossible because the story was ridiculous and not much acting was required. My daughter and I could not wait for this movie to end. No Disney magic here. Waste your money some other way.

I was disappointed in the weird dark turn this movie took about 75% of the way through. The singing/acting was really good but Disney's approach to teach kids that things don't always have a happy ending turned creepy at the end. I watched my daughters reaction as Cinderella's husband kissed another woman in the woods and she looked at me so confused. She said..."why would he do that?!" Although as adults we know that adultery happens, let's not train our kids to prepare for it ahead of time. I wish they would have portrayed marriage more sacred and not did this to a kids movie but what can you expect from the new Progressive Disney. Disappointed.

u have to understand that a lot of those "reviews" are from people who have no idea about the original source material...they r going in thinking this is a typical disney movie...

If that's not a review out of ignorance.

RESEARCH. that's all that needs to be done.

@Mrtrobz yeah. I really wanted it to be as long as the actual musical. Or a director's cut please.

As annoying as it is reading these people bitch and moan, in a way it's actually kind of amusing thinking of them going into the theater expecting live action "Frozen" and getting the challenging music and darkness/weirdness that is Into the Woods!

Not to mention, a reminder that Disney and all involved deserve kudos for allowing it to be presented with integrity, since they must have realized a good amount of people would wind up bewildered/shocked/disappointed.

parents do need to research but many will not because all they see is disney + fairy tale characters = safe bet and thats enough for them to go by and they dont feel the need they would have to...

The only one that was filmed was "She'll be back".

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i dont think any1 here was disputing the fact that stage shows are different from films or that the ending wasnt emotional...some just feel that there was room for improvement...there is nothing wrong by thinking this...


and i know the stage version like the back of my hand...and so what?

Updated On: 12/26/14 at 04:43 PM

I thought the first part was pretty perfect. Second part, slightly less so, a little rushed but very satisfying and touching. I really look forward to seeing it again...

And get this..,,in the leaked draft, it had the characters rise from a fallen tree to sing Children a Will Listen, then it had them disappear with a gust of wind. Part 2 of the Finale had the characters leave out of the woods by a magically formed path.

Marshall said that the characters were going to pop out of the forest when they were filming, but it was apparently, a last minute change to film it the way it is.

I like this ending for the film a little bit better, because Children Will Listen us a delicate song, and the effects, though beautiful, would've distracted from the song.

So I just came back from the movie. It was enjoyable but I was annoyed throughout because of where I sat. The theater I went to had reserved seating (something new they just started doing apparently...I haven't been to that theater since Maleficent and they didn't have reserved seating then), and when I picked my seat, I picked a seat thinking it was second to last row (there weren't many available. None in the middle. The film was pretty much sold out). Well, I got to the seat and realized that I picked a seat on the second row. UGH! It was the worst movie-going experience I have ever had. It sucked watching a film on a giant screen so close to my face, so I was just really in a bad mood throughout the whole movie. Also very dizzy and uncomfortable. There were some parts that were hard to see and to follow. It just really sucked. Luckily, I wasn't the only one that thought where I picked to sit would be the back, so I suggested to theater management that they really should make it clear to audiences the location of their seats. They were so apologetic and gave me a readmission ticket, so i'll be seeing the film again sometime next week.

Besides the seating issue, I enjoyed the film. I think all the actors did a great job. The stepmother and stepsisters were hilarious! I was looking forward to Pine's "Agony" because it has been celebrated on here, but it was just ok. No one at my theater clapped after the song, or even at the end of the film, so that was sort of disappointing. I guess I was expecting more since most of you guys had great theater experiences when you saw the film. As for pacing, some parts were fast and some were slow, but it was still really good. The shift from act one to act two wasn't bad at all. It felt seamless. Also, I'm probably going to get tomatoes thrown at me, but I thought it was better than the stage show. I've only seen the show once, and it was a few months ago and on DVD. It was ok. I wasn't blown away like I thought I would be since people here love it. I felt like the show kept going and going and going, from one number to another. Maybe I would've enjoyed the play had it been live? The movie felt tight, concise and easier to follow. I do see why some felt the second half of the film was rushed though.

Anyway, it was good and I'm excited to see it again, hopefully next week. I guess seating really does affect how you view and experience a film.

house lights did not go up during itw [reprise] but many left or were gathering their belongings to leave so it "got lost"... not many paid attention...

I've been travelling a lot today and one of the best bits of time-passing entertainment I've had is reading the reviews on Fandango. So many people not realizing it's a musical, outraged parents who seemed to expect Frozen with Meryl Streep, assumptions that this was a Disney concoction, people who've clearly no idea about Sondheim. I'm not saying everyone needs to be an afficionado going into it, but really, at the very least, how can you not know it's a musical? The cast have been on every show going, talking about how much darker it is, that they sang!