Singing a-'long'

You had better like singing when you buy your ticket to Into the Woods, director Rob Marshall’s film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim stage musical. The film runs just over two hours long and it’s gotta be at least 90 per cent singing.

It’s a lot of singing, I’m telling you. Enough singing to make your head spin.

If you’re already sick of me saying the word ‘singing,’ just try to imagine what 100 minutes of singing it would be like.

It’s pretty much what you should expect from Marshall, the same guy who brought Chicago and Nine to the big screen. Here, the story is straight out of the collected fairytales of The Grimm Brothers, with live action versions of such classic characters as Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk), and Rapunzel. There’s also a baker and his wife (James Corden and Emily Blunt) who set the central plot in motion.

Sadly, they are childless, a circumstance that is soon revealed to be the result of a curse put on them by a witch (Meryl Streep). To reverse the curse, they must gather up some magical items for a special potion. Now where can some fairytale characters find a white cow, a red cape, a golden slipper, and hair as yellow as corn.

Perhaps they can get some help from Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack…

And they sing the whole time. It’s okay at first. In fact, some of the singers, er … stars have surprisingly good pipes. After awhile, however, it does get to be a bit much. Imagine listening to your teenaged daughter’s favourite radio station, the one that only plays music for teenagers, and you can’t turn it off for two hours.

Frankly, this movie should have had a better editor and perhaps had a good half hour cut out to make it more palatable.

It still had its moments (especially Chris Pine’s Prince Charming and his brother pining for their loves in the middle of a river) and I enjoyed the experience overall. That being said, I’m not rushing back for a second viewing. I’m all sung out.