Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Into the Woods'

Written by Shae Rufe

​First of all, did anyone else know this was a musical? Because I certainly didn’t know it was a musical going into this. Normally, I’m not a big fan of musicals, but I do like a few. This is officially one of them. With a plot that grabs your attention and makes you strive to see the whole thing through with characters you care about, it’s a fun tale to be told.

We start with taking a few fairytales and weave them into one story. Cinderella, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and Jack and the Beanstalk get a revamped look in this movie. The Baker and his Wife are desperate to have a child. As it turns out, the Witch who lived next door cursed the house due to the Baker's father stealing from her garden. 

They gave their second child to her as part of the deal for her allowing him to take all the food he wanted. That, however, wasn’t enough. The Witch put forth a curse that whoever lived in the house would be unable to have children. Upon the Baker's late father leaving the Witch's garden, he’d stolen some magic beans. The Witch's mother told the Witch to never lose those beans, so the once beautiful Witch is turned ugly as her mother's curse took hold.

The Witch knows of a counter spell, however, and promises to lift the curse from the Baker and his Wife if they obtain four items for her; a cow as white as milk, a red cloak, hair as gold as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. Now, the story of Cinderella always had her in slippers made of glass, but I guess they look good in gold too. The Baker sets off on this quest alone, but his Wife is not one to be left behind. We soon find that our characters are destined to meet with one another. The Baker trades beans for Jack's cow, saves Riding Hood and her grandmother from the Big Bad Wolf…it’s his Wife who gets the hair from Rapunzel and the golden shoe from Cinderella.

Rapunzel happens to also be the ‘daughter’ of our Witch and the sister to the Baker. Sadly, the two don’t get to be reunited. But our Rapunzel does have a handsome prince, who is the brother to Cinderella’s prince. It all goes south when Jack climbs the beanstalk to get the gold for his cow and takes just a bit too much from the giant. The end of the movie is not one I honestly saw coming. But, I won’t spoil that for any of you. It really was entertaining, even if the musical part was unexpected.

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