Maestro Talks about Talkies

[MaestroUGC]

I watch movies. I also like starting things that I end up forgetting about or otherwise ignore for months at a time.

So I'm going to talk about movies I watch. Possibly some TV series as well.

Some thread rules:
1) If the work I am talking about is tens years or older, it's past the point Statute of Spoiler Limitations. That means we can talk about it freely, with a few exceptions that I will highlight.
2) If the work is less than 10 years old, or is currently on-going, the please use discretion and spoiler tags.
3) If the work is less than a year old, I will refrain from discussing plot details in the actual review for as much as I can. Anything else will be in spoiler tags.
4) If the work I am talking about ran for 5 years or longer, then I would like for it to remain spoiler free as much as possible. Especially for later seasons.
5) No, I will not take suggestions on what to watch/review. Don't bother, I won't listen.

Review:
Into the Woods (2014) - Disney's adaptation of a Sondheim classic
Trapped in the Closet Chapters 1-5 - The Saga Begins
Trapped in the Closet Chapters 6-12 - Web of Lies
Trapped in the Closet Chapters 13-22 - A Whole Lot of Shit Goes Down

[MaestroUGC]

Into the Woods.
An adaptation.

Now I have a long standing reservation when it comes from adaptations. All to often they just make me rather enjoy the original and leave a feeling of unfulfillment. Then there are the adaptation of work I like.

The original play by Stephen Sondheim is easily my favorite of his work; it's wonderfully convoluted, masterfully scored, and is one of the best twists of the classic fairy tales. But I'll save the comparison of the two versions later; first as summary.

The Story
"I wish."

The story is a take on Cinderella. And Little Red Riding hood. And Jack and the Beanstalk. And Rapunzel. And some other nods and nuances for good measure. Each of the main characters from those stories are pretty much the only characters in the musical. And they all wish for something. The Baker and his Wife wish for a child; Red wishes to see her Granny; Jack wishes to keep his cow; and Cinderella wishes for a life away from her misery.

It starts with the Baker and his wife, Jack, Red, and Cinderella all beginning their stories like we all know. Jack set's off to sell his cow, Milky White, at the market; Red stops by the Baker's shop for some snacks for her granny; and Cinderella is generally being miserable. All in song as an unseen narrator, uh, well narrates (Prologue). The Baker and his Wife who live next to a witch who reveals that she put a curse on their house after his father stole some beans from her garden. The curse, which resulted in his family tree being "a barren one", could only be reversed in 3 days time by retrieving "the cow as white as milk, the cape as red as blood, the hair as yellow as corn, and the slipper as pure as gold." Cinderella, after having been humiliated by her Step Mother and two Step Sisters, goes to the grave of her mother, who grants her wish. The Baker sets off to find the four items, Jack heads to Market, and Red begins her journey.

Yeah, this is quite the rollercoaster of plot points and such. Long story short, The y all go about their business, running into each other along the way, and they each get their happily ever after.

Then Act II begins.

Anything beyond that is really nothing but spoilers, but I think that is a fair synopsis to get the point across that this is one hell of a story.

The Music
Seeing how this is a musical, it would only follow that music is the most important part of the entire production. The score is a wonderful example of orchestration, webbing out motives, and all the good stuff that most Sondheim songs have. Aside from the necessary changes made when dealing with an adaptation from stage to screen, as well as the few cuts made, the score is largely untouched from the original. A couple a touches here and there to adapt to the new medium but the fact that it was preserved is a major plus in my book.

The Performances
In a musical actors have a two-fold job: bringing to their role actual acting ability, making us believe who we're watching is actually there; and they have to be able to sing well.

This movie was cast exceptionally well, which was a welcome surprise considering past attempts of casting big names to hot musicals (Les Miserable, Chicago). I could go on and on about how well everyone performed, but that would only be extra words to no greater effect. The highlights were easily Meryl Streep as The Witch, James Corden as the Baker, and Chris Pine as Cinderella's Prince.

Meryl Streep was exceptionally wonderful given how much the role is tended to be identified with Bernadette Peters, and while there were some aspects of Peter's performance that I missed (the maniacal, overt-the-top nature of her) but Streep brought her own charm to the character and by the end I loved her portrayal just as much as Ms. Peter's. (The Last Midnight is easily the best song in this production, Agony a close second thanks to Pine's and Billy Magnussen's delicious hamminess.)

Changes
Now it's no surprise that Disney wanted to trim down a 3-hour stage play to a neat 2-hour movie experience. A few songs, most notably the Act I finale and Act II Opening, were cut; but most of them were either redundant (No intermission in a movie, so no need to tell the audience "this is what happened before the break") or otherwise added nothing to this new medium. All the important (read: good) songs are still there, untouched, so the film doesn't really suffer because of it.

The sub-plots are another story. Firstly, and most significantly, the entire Rapunzel sub-plot is dropped from act II, and a major amount of the sub-text in the Red/Wolf encounter is changed for the better (it was really pedophilic in the first place and there's no way that would've been tolerated today in major motion picture.)

Aside from that, the only other changes were in pacing, but that's to be expected when you have the benefit of editing and no concern for audience acknowledgement like a stage play. "Yes I know that was a big finish, please stop clapping so I can continue amazing you all." Because of that fact most of the humor was actually improved, though that may be more due to the players, but either way that's a good thing.

The Original vs. The Adaptation
Now I could go on and on about how the original play is my favorite Sondheim production, but that would only serve to weaken this review in the first place. No, instead I will go on about how this film version is very much worthy of the praise and adulation the original work receives.

While altered, yes, the film version is all the better for those changes. And that's the most important thing for an adaptation, it must do well for it's own changes and re-workings. In fact I'd say this is the most successful and well done adaptation of anything I've seen in the past few years. They even featured the Act II finale over the credits, which would have otherwise been redundant for this movie but very much welcome as an outro.

Only one gripe: I'm tired of Johnny Depp. I mean he was fine in this, and I can't put this against the movie, but I'm just so tire of Johnny Depp.

9/10
It may not be "Movie of the Year" for 2014, but it's easily one of the best new film in the past while.

[Sebastian]

.......ok.......

[mikey]

Into the woods was hilarious
best part was "Agony"

[Dudeman]

I've seen the actual play twice in two different settings, but haven't seen the movie yet. I love the play (yes, "Agony" has to be the best part), so is there anyone who's seen both who can compare them?

[mikey]

if you want evidence that it's good, my sister is a musical/play fanatic and if something isn't close enough to the original she hates it.  She thought she was going to hate into the woods (plus the previews made it seem very dark and horrific) but she loved it and said the only thing wrong with it was a few quotes that were missing.
Also Johnny Depp

[MaestroUGC]

Review of Into the Woods in the second post

[SlowPokemon]

I love Johnny Depp but apparently he's very bad in this film.

Maestro, having never seen the original Into the Woods, is it acceptable for this to be my introduction to the material? I'm seeing this on Tuesday morning because I adore Sondheim. (My favorites that I've seen are Sweeney Todd and Company)

[MaestroUGC]

I would recommend this as a general musical, but as an adaptation I would also recommend it.

Considering you are a big fan of Sondheim, seek out the original play first. I believe the production with Bernadette Peters I mentioned is still on Netflix for streaming.

[mikey]

I enjoyed it just as a movie person
I even generally dislike classic musicals too (blasphemy!), because usually their songs get tiresome and repetitive.  The Last Midnight, I Know Things Now, and Agony are pretty good though.

Some things my sister and I noticed-
The ugly stepsister is the same stepsister in Ella Enchanted, but her name is Hattie.  It's funny because in the script her character says "Cover it with a hat."
The girl from Pitch Perfect (as she will henceforth and forever be known) plays cinderelly and when she's singing her solo about being stuck to the tar (yet simultaneously moving around the steps) she calls it pitch

[MaestroUGC]

Well pitch is a tar like substance (in fact it is tar, just more of a liquid state) which is what she was stuck in. I actually like how they handled that scene because that was full-on Broadway; in the original play Cinderella is stuck on the step alone and gets her song, with her prince off being a buffoon somewhere; here it's treated like the entire debate is happening in her head, freezing time and even giving a moment for her to get back to her mark.

[SlowPokemon]

This film was really excellent. Sondheim holds the key to my heart.

One thing though... "Hello Little Girl" and "I Know Things Now" is this suggestive after the changes?? What was altered for the film? This definitely stuck out glaringly as a very uncomfortable section for me.

[MaestroUGC]

The pedophilia of it all was much, much more overt in the original stage play. The movie is all the better for this change.

[SlowPokemon]

I noticed that they played up the "jazzy, carefree swing" in the arrangement of the wolf's song (after that horrifically disturbing opening).

[mikey]

I thought the whole hello little girl thing was intentional though