Disney’s Into the Woods Movie Review #IntoTheWoodsEvent

Disclosure: Disney is providing me with an all expense paid trip to LA to the #IntoTheWoodsEvent and #ABCFamilyEvent featured in this post to facilitate my review. All opinions are 100% mine and not influenced in any way.

I was so honored to be part of the #IntoTheWoodsEvent and saw the screening of Into The Woods Movie on 12/18 and able to share my review with all of you.

“Into The Woods” is the very first song you will hear each character sing at the beginning of the movie.  It is a catchy tune that is my favorite and you will find yourself singing it over and over again after you see the movie.

Disney’s Into The Woods movie is not your average fairy tale story. It is a modern twist of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Little Red Riding Hood all in one story. It was adapted from the late 80s Broadway hit musical which was written by the legendary Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, and now directed by Rob Marshall.

The witch played by Meryl Streep puts a curse on the baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) where they have to retrieve items from the fairy tale characters to break the curse. Where else do they have to retrieve the items from but …. “Into the Woods”. Each character heads into the Woods for an adventure and comes along some obstacles and hilarious encounters.

Starting off with the story of Little Red Riding Hood played by Lily Crawford runs into the Big Bad Wolf played by Johnny Depp who sings a song about eating Little Red Riding Hood. I don’t want to give away too much detail but you will have to see it for yourself to see what funny thing happens to the Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood.

My favorite part of the movie is where Chris Pine (The Prince) and Billy Magnussen (The Other Prince) do a duo together in the water singing “Agony”. They are both acting like they are sexy while singing at the same time. You can see both of them rip their shirt open and splash water around. It is one hilarious scene.

Cinderella is not your normal Cinderella in this film. You will find her having a hard time to decide if she really wants the gorgeous prince (Chris Pine) or not. Three times she goes to the ball and even by the third time she is still indecisive. Will she fall in love and marry him? See the film on 12/25 to find out. You will love the result.

You will find a strange twist with Rapunzel played by MacKenzie Mauzy and will see who her mother really is in the film.

Even though the Woods are dark and mysterious the costumes are done brilliantly by Colleen Atwood where she adds the appropriate pops of dark colors that completes each costume.

The director Rob Marshall knew what he wanted in this film and pulled it off. He has taken well talented actors and actresses and created one amazing film. He was even surprised by more talent he spotted as they were filming by the actors and actresses that he did not know about.

This is a movie the whole family can see on Christmas day as it is rated PG with a running time of 124 minutes. You might find it more appropriate for kids ages 8 and older as it may appear scary for younger kids. Seeing a movie on Christmas Day has become a family tradition for me and my family and I hope you can create that tradition with your family as well if you don’t already.  Even though it is based off of a musical, the movie is not entirely a musical. You will find more humor in it and a great story line that you don’t want to miss.

Cast: Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Daniel Huttlestone, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Lilla Crawford, Johnny Depp,  Billy Magnussen, MacKenzie Mauzy,Tammy Blanchard, and Lucy Punch.

Director: Rob Marshall

Producers: John DeLuca, Rob Marshall, Marc Platt, Callum McDougall

Screenplay by: James Lapine

Based on the Musical by: Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine

Music and Lyrics by: Stephen Sondheim

Visit the Disney Into the Woods website!

And be sure to “Like” Into the Woods on Facebook ,  Follow @IntotheWoods on Twitter  (#IntoTheWoods), Tumblr, and  Pinterest!