Into the Woods

Disney is responsible for giving life to one of the most enduring and endearing Broadway musicals in recent times, "Into the Woods," and we should all be truly grateful as well as a little miffed.

In 1987, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer/director James Lapine followed up their Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, "Sunday in the Park with George," by crafting a show culled from Grimm's Fairy Tales and adding one of their own, the "Baker and his Wife." Each character would pursue their wishes, no matter the damage they left in their wake.

The play opened to mostly great reviews, and ran over two years. It has since become iconic. Full disclosure: I saw the original musical 13 times, so you can say I'm a fan.

Over a quarter century later, Rob Marshall ("Chicago," "Nine") directs a screenplay by James Lapine via Disney. And they've certainly put together a very entertaining film, but it's a mixed bag at best.

Firstly, let's focus on what director Rob Marshall and his team gets right.

The look of the film is fantastic, from Dion Beebe's stunning cinematography to Dennis Gassner's lush and lovely, yet dark, production design to Colleen Atwood's splendid costumes. The woods come alive and the Blu-ray transfer preserves the exquisite visuals.

The sound is phenomenal and the orchestrations, divine. And the first-rate audio on the Blu-ray sounds just as good as it did when I saw it in Imax.

The opening sequence rocks with the title number introducing all the pertinent characters and setting the stage for what's to come.

Finally, many of the performances are tremendous including a superb Emily Blunt as the Baker's Wife, adorable Daniel Huttlestone as Jack, a hilarious Tracey Ullman as Jack's Mother and a menacing Frances de la Tour as the Giant.

In addition, Chris Pine finds his inner camp as the Prince and plays him to egotistical perfection, especially in the homoerotic "Agony" scene with his brother Prince (hottie Billy Magnussen).

And, of course, Meryl Streep is perfection as the Witch, giving the role layers never imagined before and receiving a record 19th Oscar nomination in the process.

Now, on to where the filmmakers disappoint, over-compromise or just plain screw up.

The casting of some of the main characters feels off. As good as Anna Kendrick is as Cinderella (she does have a wonderful singing voice), she's just not right in the role. Ditto James Corden as the Baker. And Johnny Depp's appearance is just odd and reeks of forced-movie-star-cameo.

SPOILER ALERT

The Disneyfication of the darker, gorier, more disturbing elements of the story is a major point of contention for me. Rapunzel lives... and runs off with her Prince, as opposed to being trampled by the Giant, as in the original libretto. In addition, much of the death, doom and destruction are lessened, sweetened or just plain altered, robbing the stirring 11 o'clock number "No One is Alone" of its punch. "No More," a vital song that sheds psychological light on the Baker, has been cut. And the urgent sense of despair and panic that ultimately bonded these characters has been frightfully diminished.

So much of what separated "Into the Woods" from more generic fairy tale adaptations was the depiction of the price each character had to pay for the lengths they were willing to go to in order to get their "happily ever after." The film renders much of that potency benign.

A lot of this was to be expected, since Disney wanted the film to appeal to all audiences, but it's still a damn shame.

The Blu-ray special features include plenty of puff-piece-featurettes about the making of the movie boasting humble interviews with cast and crew. No one bothered to look up any of the original Broadway cast, even for the piece about the transfer from stage to screen. This is a shame, since the principal cast, along with Sondheim and Lapine, reunited last November for two concert performances and, I'm sure, would have been happy to speak about the experience.

Marshall and co-producer (and his partner) John DeLuca provide sometimes illuminating, often self-congratulatory, audio commentary.

But the disc highlight is brand new song Sondheim wrote for Streep (and, shockingly, she sings it spectacularly) titled "She'll Be Back" that everyone apparently loved, but that everyone also agreed should be cut. Really? Because a 3-minute song truly, "didn't serve the film?" Did cutting the balls off the second half of the narrative serve the film? (But, I digress) The new song actually adds nuance to the Witch's character and gives a certain closure to the ridiculous and misguided (but happy, of course) ending to Rapunzel's story. If everyone truly loved this song, I'm guessing it would have remained in the film. It certainly should have.

Sadly, no other deleted scenes are offered.

"Into the Woods" can now be enjoyed by an entire new generation, even in this sanitized and safe incarnation. And that's not a bad thing. For those wanting to journey much much deeper into the woods, with greater rewards, the wonderful PBS presentation, featuring the brilliant original cast, is available on DVD and Blu-ray (a disappointing transfer but, still worthwhile).

And for Meryl Streep fans (and who isn't) this is yet another role she takes to transcendent levels. Sondheim and Lapine should pen a sequel just for her titled, "The Witch, after the Woods."

"Into the Woods"
Blu-ray Combo Pack/Digital HD
$19.99
http://movies.disney.com/into-the-woods/