Into the Woods

I saw Into the Woods yesterday afternoon, and was okay with it. It definitely wasn't great, but it was watchable and for the most part entertaining.

Into the Woods takes a bunch of fairytale characters and scenarios -- Cinderella, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, etc, and intertwines their story. There are two main motifs -- a baker and his wife attempting to find objects for the witch to remove a curse (the witch is played by Meryl Streep). And all the characters trying to appease an angry giant destroying the land.

The first half of the movie was fine. I was into it. But when the giant came into the picture the whole thing seemed to unravel and become self conscious and trying to impose more meaning on the whole thing than necessary. I was impatient for it to end.

I loved the lyrics, which were funny and clever, but found most of the music pretty boring melodically. One exception: the duet sung by the two charming princes at the waterfall. That was totally over-the-top and funny. Everyone's acting seemed kind of precious and affected. So, not a great flick. It would have been much better if it had been edited, cutting about 40 minutes of fat.