Don’t you know what’s out there in the world?
Into the Woods may as well be called “Be Careful What You Wish For,” not just because it is the story about a bunch of fairytale characters whose lives change as results of their desires, but because I simply wished much better for the Disney adaptation of this great musical and story, and I don’t feel like my dreams came true with this one.
When I walked out of the film, I thought of it as a good effort in telling a tale that I’ve seen many times before. I gave it a good solid A-. Yes, I was there with friends and my mother on Boxing Day and had a great time in a beautiful theater. Overall, the experience was rather enjoyable. But upon really reflecting upon my experience of seeing Into The Woods, I realized I wasn’t really that happy with this latest film version.
My first, biggest, and main complaint is the fact that Rob Marshall took a story and completely altered the plot and dramatically changed the ending and some of the characters. Sure, these are fairytale characters, but the musical of Into The Woods’ entire point is giving these characters that we have grown up with our entire lives depth and dimension. The musical asks: what happens after happily ever after? And the answer is not pretty.
Every one of the characters in the musical, in a selfish manner, wishes for something: to go to the ball, to have money, to be accepted, etc. The problem? Wishes have consequences. Dreams take work. And life has responsibilities.
*SPOLIER ALERT*
The original musical Into The Woods sees not one, not two, but nine people die. The wolf is killed by the baker. The narrater is sacrificed to the giant to spare the lives of everyone in the musical. Rapunzel and the baker’s wife are stomped to death by the giant. Jack’s mother is murdered for taunting the giant. The old man passes out dead after having helped the baker obtain a new cow. Little Red finds out her granny was trampled to death as well. The witch either disapates into nothingness, runs herself under the tracks of the giant, or dissolves into a pit of tar–depending on the production. Finally the giant is murdered by Jack, Little Red, the baker, and Cinderella.
The film version gave diligence to three of these deaths, though in some of the stupidest and plot-hole-edness ways I have ever seen. For some reason they made the baker’s wife fall off a cliff. We never actually see her, the baker’s wife, or Jack’s mom die, but at the very end, the baker admits to Jack that his mother is dead. Almost in a “oops, forgot to mention” type of way. Rapunzel lives, the witch disappears, and the old man was just a ghost.
I understand that the production house responsible was Walt Disney Studios and they are grasping at straws to be still considered entirely family appropriate and kid friendly. Maybe it isn’t a good idea to have half of your cast murdered off or squished and have that shown to small children. But is this really a kids movie or story in the first place? Absolutely not. This is a Sondheim piece. Let us not forget the man responsible for the lyrics to West Side Story, and the music to Sweeney Todd, Passions, Company, and Assassins. He isn’t exactly known for being kid-friendly and never has been.
So why the desire to completely alter the story? Yes, these changes don’t seem that drastic, but you are meant to leave the theater with the afore mentioned thought above: be careful what you wish for. We didn’t see *SPOLIER ALERT* Cinderella’s Prince dumping her then running off with Sleeping Beauty. Or Rapunzel’s Prince shacking up with Snow White. (I may have those inverted). In fact, the very last line in the show, following the entire cast’s decision to re-enter the words, is Cinderella singing “I wish.” Honey bear just couldn’t learn her lesson. The film version makes it seem like a place they won’t ever go to again.
My second biggest complaint with the film is that this musical is virtually an opera. It is little dialogue and a lot of music that was removed from the film. I couldn’t believe Sondheim signed off on allowing so many songs to be stricken from the show. With a musical as famous as this one with a soundtrack just as famous, why take the gamble on removing songs that have intricate plot twists interwoven into the lyrics?
Everyone of the songs tell its own story and everyone of the songs has its own life moral. Why cheat us out of some of the lessons Into The Woods is meant to teach us about life?
Third, some effects were completely lost on the film and utterly lackluster. The stage version has an awe inspiring transformation for the witch from an ugly old woman to a beautiful young lady. We didn’t see this as, God love her, Meryl is neither beautiful nor young and her transformation lackluster. Same with The Last Midnight. The witch is telling everyone to fuck off and that she is over it and out. I hardly got any joy and certainly no excitement from seeing what is arguably the finest number of the show being simplified. One of the stars of the show is THE WOODS and I just never felt the movie got that: enchantment and fear that the woods instilled. The woods represented the character’s hopes, transformations, and loss. There was nothing enchanting about the movie’s forest. I guess I just really didn’t feel the magic that you feel when seeing this show live.
Maybe Disney just wanted a cash cow. Knowing that if they made it more kid friendly and billed it as a family and holiday film, they would rack in more money. Maybe they thought re-telling of the story with a more optimistic outcome would pay off in the way they remade Alice in Wonderland and gave that story a positive outcome? The problem is, Alice’s story is already miserable: everyone in Wonderland wants to deceive and kill her, so giving her story any hope seemed logical for Disney in the new millennium. The difference? The new ending left you feeling better about life, Alice, and the original Carroll story.
That is not the case of Into The Woods, a story that many claim is an analogy for the AIDS epidemic and crisis. Changing 8 people dying to only 3 still leaves the audience feeling saddened and at a loss. We don’t know where the witch went. What happens to the remaining 4 leads? Where did the princes go? So much of the movie was left unraveled that the musical neatly cleans up in the end. Maybe because the musical ending is all too real because life isn’t pretty. Maybe there really is no happily ever after because the reality of life sinks in. The trials and tribulations of living. These are the internal questions Into The Woods the musical asks of its viewers.
The film version tries its best to be a happily ever after tale or at least wrap up in a positive way and really kind of falls flat on its face. You are meant to feel the angst of having lost the entire cast. You are supposed to feel sad and lost as a result of seeing the character’s hardships. And you are supposed to realize the very statement I have said this entire write up: be careful what you wish for. Because sometimes wishes come true with unwanted consequences.
I only wish that instead of turning this story into a money making machine, that the producers would have stayed true to the original tale- a fairytale musical with very real morals and situations. I wish…
