What a disappointment. They tell me Sondheim was involved in the making of this mess and I don't believe it. Not for one second. I think they held out a butt load of money, he grabbed it, ran for his life and took James Lapine with him. ITW needs a certain energy and pacing in order to work. This film has neither, despite the heroic efforts of Streep and Blunt. In fact, the movie would have been better if those two had played all the roles. The opening number had some glimpses of the wondrous glory that it should have been, but it never climaxed leading seamlessly to the rest of the story. (What was the story?) It petered out and was followed by tuneless wailing delivered by characters who never quite seemed to be in the same film. It was a good (not really) hour too long. The most beautiful and memorable songs in the original were dumped for some reason. Anna Kendrick needs an orthodontist if she is to play Disney princesses. None of the other characters were memorable at all. And when one of those characters is played by Tracey Ullman, there's a problem. There was not one laugh or even a chuckle from my fellow audience members. Everyone sort of shuffled out as though they had just seen The Sorrow and the Pity. Did I mention disappointing? This coupled with the abomination that was Annie ought to ensure the death of the movie musical for some time to come.
Review of Into the Woods
