Into The Woods

Plot Summary

The film begins by introducing several characters in quick succession, all singing about something they want. Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) cleans her stepmother's house as she sings about her wish to go to the king's festival. Young Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) wishes his cow would give milk. The Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt) wish they could have a child. Cinderella's stepmother (Christine Baranski) and stepsisters Florinda (Tammy Blanchard) and Lucinda (Lucy Punch) mock her for wanting to go to the festival. Jack's Mother (Tracey Ullman) wishes her son had more sense and she had more money. Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) goes to the Baker's shop wishing for some bread and treats for her grandmother; though she has no money to pay for them, she eats many pastries while she skips around the bakery.

Cinderella's stepmother pours a bowl of tiny lentils into the fireplace and tells Cinderella she can go to the ball if she can pick up every last one. Cinderella calls on her bird friends to help her with the task and they fly down the chimney. Meanwhile, Jack's mother says that because her milk has gone dry they have to sell the cow (Tug), who he calls Milky White and treats as a friend.

Little Red continues collecting food in the bakery, gathering more and more for herself. The Baker's Wife is sweet and loving towards her but the Baker calls her a thief; he isn't much of a parental type. Little Red continues on, into the woods to her Grandmother's house.

Jack's Mother sends him to the next village to sell the cow since everyone in their village knows that the cow's milk has dried up. He is told not to come back with less than five pounds. He, too, goes into the woods.

The Witch tells the Baker and his wife that if they want the curse reversed, they have to bring her some ingredients for a potion: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. She needs these things by midnight in three days time when the blue moon will come, which only happens every 100 years. If they can bring her the ingredients, she promises them a child.

Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) sings a lovely soprano song, trapped in her tower, which catches the attention of a handsome prince (Billy Magnussen). (imdb.com)

Trivia

* According to Anna Kendrick, the set pieces used for the woods were so big and realistic that she and Chris Pine actually got lost while on the sound stage and had to be rescued by a production assistant.

* According to Johnny Depp, he modeled the Big Bad Wolf's mischievous persona after the slick-talking, Zoot-suit wearing Wolf from old 1940s Tex Avery cartoons.

Showing: 28 January 2015 (Philippines)