New Into The Woods Movie Received Mostly Positive Reviews From Major Critics
Walt Disney Pictures released their new fantasy/musical film, “Into The Woods,” into theaters yesterday, December 25th, and all the top,major movie critics have turned in their reviews. It ended up resonating quite well with most of them, getting an overall 71 score out of a possible 100 across 33 reviews at the Metacritic.com site.
The film stars: Tracey Ullman, Frances de la Tour, Johnny Depp, Lucy Punch, Meryl Streep, Chris Pine, Emily Blunt, Simon Russell Beale, Tammy Blanchard, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Christine Baranski, Billy Magnussen, Lilla Crawford, Daniel Huttlestone, MacKenzie Mauzy, Richard Glover, Joanna Riding, and Annette Crosbie. We’ve provided blurbs from a few of the critics,below.
Stephen Holden from The New York Times, gave it a nice 90 grade, saying: ” Into the Woods, the splendid Disney screen adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical, infuses new vitality into the tired marketing concept of entertainment for “children of all ages.” That usually translates to mean only children and their doting parents. But with Into the Woods, you grow up with the characters, young and old, in a lifelong process of self-discovery.”
Susan Wloszczyna at RobertEbert.com, gave it an 88 score,stating: “The singing is often splendid. The bits of humor are deftly handled. The pace is relatively swift. And it never feels like a static rendition of a theatrical event dumbed down for a younger demographic.”
Lou Lumenick from the New York Post, gave it an 88 score. He stated: “Stephen Sondheim’s stage classic Into the Woods, a dark and subversive musical take on fairy tales, not only survives but triumphs in the composer’s most unlikely collaboration with Disney.”
Alonso Duralde over at TheWrap, gave it an 88 grade. He stated: “Marshall deserves credit for knowing how to shoot and cut (alongside editor Wyatt Smith, “Thor: The Dark World”) a musical number, and his work here ranks much closer to his success with “Chicago” than to his dismal “Nine.”
Betsy Sharkey over at the Los Angeles Times, gave it an 80 grade, saying: “What makes Into the Woods so entertaining is the cleverness of the tale itself and the way specific characters match the talents of its storytellers.”
David Rooney at The Hollywood Reporter, gave it an 80 score. He stated: “This twisty fairy-tale mash-up shows an appreciation for the virtues of old-fashioned storytelling, along with a welcome dash of subversive wit. It benefits from respect for the source material, enticing production values and a populous gallery of sharp character portraits from a delightful cast.”
Ty Burr from the Boston Globe, gave it a 75 score. He said: “Into the Woods is forced in some places but exquisitely right in others, and it gains strength as it goes.”
Mick LaSalle over at the San Francisco Chronicle, gave it a 75 score, saying: “Faithful but not slavishly faithful to the source, the movie retains most of the songs but streamlines the story, particularly in the second half.”
Richard Roeper from the Chicago Sun-Times, gave it a 75 score. He stated: “Into the Woods rumbles on for too long and has some dry patches here and there — but just when we’re growing fidgety, we get another rousing musical number or another dark plot twist, and we’re back in business.”
Michael Phillips at the Chicago Tribune, gave it a 75 grade. He said: “The movie works best whenever Corden and Blunt, performers of nearly limitless appeal and sweet-natured vulnerability, take the story back from their cohorts, though Kendrick is no less beguiling.”
Scott Foundas over at Variety, gave it a 70 grade, saying: “Marshall hasn’t made one of the great movie musicals here, but he hasn’t bungled it either — far from it.”
Chris Nashawaty over at Entertainment Weekly, gave it a 67 score. He said: “The first two-thirds of the film, which are like the Brothers Grimm’s Greatest Hits on laughing gas, have a fizzy, fairy-dust energy. But as soon as the baker couple’s scavenger hunt is over and a rampaging giant appears, Woods loses its magic and momentum and sags like an airless balloon.”
Peter Travers at Rolling Stone, gave it a 63 score, stating: “Yes, the sets and costumes elicit swoons, but it’s the peerless Sondheim score, however truncated, that makes this Woods a prime destination.”
Claudia Puig over at USA Today, gave it a 63 grade, stating: “The notion that children are raised on fairy tales and the question of how those early stories affect us all — even into adulthood — remains fascinating and is delivered here with visual panache and musical flair.”
Finally, Elizabeth Weitzman from the New York Daily News, gave it a 60 score, saying: “Loyal fans of the Sondheim original may feel a bit let down themselves. There’s much to love here. But working with original “Woods” writer and Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, Marshall tones down the crucial dark shading in some places and has trouble with pacing in others.” Stay tuned. Also, get your favorite Movie stuff, and more by Clicking Here.
