Into the Woods Official Movie Thread — Page 185

I think there is a lot of irony to be found in how the tables have turned between Into the Woods and The Phantom of the Opera. Phantom proved to be the much bigger box office hit than ITW and ended up winning Best Musical at the Tonys. However, in the medium of film ITW will end up surpassing Phantom at least three-fold and is garnering better critical and awards reception.

Very much the same thing happened with the film versions of DREAMGIRLS and NINE. DREAMGIRLS was poised to sweep the Tonys back in 1982, but then Tommy Tune brought in NINE just before the Tony eligibility deadline and NINE wound up winning the Tony for Best Musical. DREAMGIRLS however was still a huge success, surpassing NINE in terms of longevity and recognition outside of theater circles.
The film version of DREAMGIRLS was hugely successful while the film version of NINE was a huge flop.

Wow, icecreambenjamin. Where do you live? It was nothing like that in my theater. I think maybe one or two people got restless when the last couple songs began, but overall even the kids seemed engaged throughout.

That's awful. You paid for your ticket too and have every right to enjoy the film without morons messing it up for you. If they don't like it they should shut up and deal with it, or shut up and leave.

It's funny. When I went yesterday again (midtown Manhattan), it's funny (ok SAD) how you (meaning "ME")can pre-judge who is seeing the movie. I am sitting there and this lovely Hispanic family came in - a grandmother, grandfather and four young children, ages I would say 4-9ish who were just thrilled to be sitting in a theater with lounge chair seating and buttons that moved the leg rests, etc. They were talking really loudly for about 20 minutes before the lights dimmed and running around for appropriate snacks, etc. And I am thinking they have NO idea what they have brought these kids to see...and maybe they didn't.

But they were totally engrossed in the entire movie, I didn't hear a peep out of any of them and the grandmother had tears in her eyes when the movie was over. The grandparents were hugging each other and the kids as they were leaving...and the kids were talking over each other in what the just saw. Quite humbling actually.

You just never know..and it was a really good reminder to myself - who should know better - not to make assumptions based on first glance. You don't really have to be a theater buff to get it...

KathyNYC2, I love that story and had a similar experience. As I was watching people enter the theater, I was imagining how different groups were going to respond. For example, there was a group of old white ladies sitting directly behind me, older couples where I would guess the men had been dragged there by their wives, a bunch of Hispanic families with young kids, etc. The only one I heard say anything negative was one of the old ladies (she must have been 80+, and before the movie actually asked me what was playing in the theater--I guess she was making sure she didn't go into the wrong one, haha). She told her friends that she loved the songs and the "scenery" but that there was "too much commotion" in the film for her liking. The families seemed to really enjoy it.

I am sure there were people in the theater who didn't like it, but none of them were making a scene about it.

At least those in my audience who didn't like it waited till the end to voice their opinions!

Though the entire group behind me for some bizarre reason started loudly unwrapping candy and putting on their coats well before the Giant's Wife was even killed. Stereophonic coat rustling and cellophane wrappers in one's ears can be very distracting especially regarding the mood of the scene.

The same group also exclaimed loudly "How can you combine five fairytales AND make them sing???"

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Updated On: 12/31/14 at 03:04 PM

The first time I saw the movie there were these two ladies next to me and after the movie they said and I quote "What a horrible musical.." "Far too long"... I had to resist the urge to scream at them.

The cinema theatres Some of you guys went to sound torturous, over here they are usually quite reserved by comparison. Most children appear 12-5PM and after that the admission price rises and it's usually students and older.

Updated On: 12/31/14 at 03:31 PM

So glad this movie is doing well at the box office, and I'm glad others here (like ray) are finding it even more appealing upon a second viewing, as did I.

I think it's really sad and disgusting that it's the idiotic, Neanderthal parents who are freaking out over the "strange" material here, not their children ... who if given half a chance are actually enjoying it and learning something new, not only about the many life lessons of story, but also about different styles of music, different ways of singing, and other (musical) ways to tell a story. A lot of them would never get to see the stage production (or any stage show, for that matter). And while this isn't the Broadway version, it's a wonderful gateway to "new" ideas for them.

... but not if their idiotic parents keep freaking out.

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Updated On: 12/31/14 at 05:35 PM

This movie has created a funny radical fringe on both ends. There are the horrified conservative parents who think their children will be traumatized if they actually see the big bad wolf opening his jacket to reveal candy.

On the other end are some critics that somehow feel that the movie is hopelessly compromised because the Prince and the Baker's Wife don't have full on back door sex.

Most of the tweaks are minor. It's the tone that's important, and I think just about every aspect of the movie captures the FEEL of the original production.

She only got about five feet of Rapunzel's hair. There was plenty more where that came from.

The last movie I would see in 2014 was Into the Woods. Acceptable, but disappointing, is the best I can say for the film.

Despite the all-star cast, the movie felt cheap and under lit. The costumes were drab (especially compared to the stage originals), the production design was unimaginative (Granny’s house was a tree with a door, the “palace” looked more like a fortress), and the special effects (like the virtually unseen giants) lacking. Perhaps if less money was spent on star salaries, more would have been available for beautiful, fairytale scenery and effects (the princes ball, the witch’s garden, the giants’ kingdom), Where the stage version had a theatrical magic, this film lacked movie magic.

Many of the “stars” didn’t work in their roles for me. Meryl Streep was nothing special – her witch was less interesting than Bernadette’s. Johnny Depp’s wolf was neither human enough nor wolf enough to be truly menacing. Chris Pine’s prince lacked charm – he was either an airhead or camp (as in “Agony”).

Have no problem with James Cordon, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Tracy Ullman, and actually liked Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood.

I was impressed with the amount of singing versus dialogue, although it did seem like a lot of the songs were shortened. And while it didn’t bother me that the British actors were using their own accent, I wasn’t sure why the American actors needed to use phony sounding British accents (Chris Pine, I’m looking at you). “Giants in the Sky” is one of my favorite songs, but Daniel Huttlestone’s Cockney accent was grating on my nerves.

Was surprised to see Simon Russell Beale and Frances de la Tour in the cast – wished we could have seen more of them.

Couldn’t decide if the occasional bits of physical humor, such as Rapunzel’s prince half falling out of the tower and limping onto his horse, were funny. That said, I did find Little Red Riding Hood singing while eating to be funny.

And like with the Les Miserables movie, I’m glad I saw it, but I have no desire see Into the Woods (the movie) anytime soon. But the stage musical, I would be happy to see both again.

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