Into the Woods is a 2014 American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay by James Lapine based on his and Stephen Sondheim's 1987 Broadway musical of the same name. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, it features an ensemble cast that includes Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, Tracey Ullman, Christine Baranski, Lilla Crawford, Daniel Huttlestone, MacKenzie Mauzy, Billy Magnussen, and Johnny Depp. The film is centered on a childless couple who set out to end a curse placed on them by a vengeful witch, and the characters are forced to experience the unintended consequences of their actions. It is inspired by the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales of "Little Red Riding Hood", and the Charles Perrault fairy tales "Cinderella", "Jack and the Beanstalk", and "Rapunzel".
After several unsuccessful attempts by other studios and producers to adapt the musical to film, Disney announced in 2012 that it was producing an adaptation, with Marshall directing and John DeLuca serving as producer. Principal photography commenced in September 2013, and took place entirely in the United Kingdom, including at Shepperton Studios in London.
Into the Woods had its world premiere in New York City on December 8, 2014, and was released theatrically in the United States on December 25, 2014. It was commercially successful and received generally positive reviews, receiving praise for its acting performances (particularly Streep's and Blunt's), visual style, production values, and musical numbers, and criticism for its tone in the final act. Into the Woods was named one of the top 11 best films of 2014 by the American Film Institute; the film received three Academy Award nominations, including a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Streep, and three Golden Globe Award nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Plot[]
A Baker and his wife wish for a child but suffer under a curse laid upon their family by a Witch. The Witch had found the baker's father robbing her garden when the baker's mother was pregnant, and demanded their baby in return. Because the Baker's father also stole some magic beans, the Witch's own mother punished her with the curse of age and ugliness. The Witch is able to lift the curse and allow the Baker and his wife to have a child only if they obtain four items for a potion to break her curse: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold—none of which she is allowed to touch.
The Witch's demands bring the Baker and his wife into contact with Jack, who is selling his beloved cow, Milky-White, and to whom the Baker offers the magic beans his father left him, which Jack's mother accidentally grows into a large beanstalk; with Red Riding Hood, whose red cape the couple noticed when she stopped by the bakery earlier to buy and steal bread and sweets on her way to her grandmother's house; with the blonde Rapunzel (the Witch's adopted daughter and Baker's biological sister), whose tower the Baker's wife finds in the woods; and with Cinderella, who runs into the Baker's wife while fleeing the Prince and whose ball outfit includes gold slippers.
After a series of failed attempts and misadventures, the Baker and his wife are finally able to gather the necessary items. After the Witch regains her youth and beauty after drinking the potion, each of the characters receives a "happy ending". The Baker and his wife have a son; Cinderella marries the Prince; Rapunzel is freed from the Witch by the Prince's brother, whom she marries; Jack provides for his mother by stealing riches from the Giant in the sky, courtesy of the beanstalk, and kills the pursuing Giant by cutting down the beanstalk; and Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are saved from the Big Bad Wolf.
However, each of the characters learn that their endings don't remain happy: the Baker is worried that he is a poor father to his newborn baby; the Baker's wife lets the Prince temporarily seduce her; Cinderella is disenchanted by her cheating Prince; and the Witch learns that she has lost her powers in exchange for her youth and beauty, after being rejected by Rapunzel, who then runs off with her Prince. The growth of a second beanstalk from the last remaining magic bean allows the Giant's widow to climb down and threaten the kingdom if no one delivers Jack in retribution for killing her husband. The characters attempt to find and protect Jack. In the process, Red Riding Hood's mother and grandmother, Jack's mother and the Baker's wife are killed. The Baker, Cinderella, Jack and Red Riding Hood all blame each other for their individual actions that led to the tragedy, ultimately blaming the Witch for growing the beans in the first place. She curses them all for their inability to accept any responsibility, as well as their refusal to do the "right thing" (handing Jack over). Casting all the remaining beans away, the Witch begs her mother to punish her again, and she abandons the group by melting into a large pit of boiling tar.
The remaining characters resolve to kill the threatening Giant's widow, though they discuss the complicated morality of retribution and revenge in the process. They lure the Giant's widow into stepping in the tar pit, where she trips and falls with a tree crushing her. With the Giant's widow dead, the characters move forward with their lives. The Baker, thinking of his wife, is determined to be a good father. Cinderella decides to leave her Prince and help the Baker with Jack and Red Riding Hood, as they are now orphans, and will be moving into the bakery. The Baker comforts his son by telling the story of the film as the movie ends with the Witch's moral ("Children will Listen"), which means children can change due to their parents' actions and behaviors.
Cast[]
- Meryl Streep as the Witch
- Emily Blunt as the Baker's Wife
- James Corden as the Baker
- Anna Kendrick as Cinderella
- Chris Pine as Cinderella's Prince
- Johnny Depp as the Big Bad Wolf
- Lilla Crawford as Little Red Riding Hood
- Daniel Huttlestone as Jack
- Billy Magnussen as Rapunzel's Prince
- MacKenzie Mauzy as Rapunzel
- Tracey Ullman as Jack's Mother
- Christine Baranski as Cinderella's Stepmother
- Tammy Blanchard as Florinda
- Lucy Punch as Lucinda
- Frances de la Tour as the Giant's Wife
- Simon Russell Beale as the Baker's Father
- Richard Glover as the Steward
- Joanna Riding as Cinderella's Mother
- Annette Crosbie as Little Red Riding Hood's Granny
- Molly as Milky-White