Into The Woods is a movie released on the 25th of December last year that takes the norm of four of the Grimm fairy tales and gives it a dark and musical twist, interlocking them with an original story of a baker and his wife. When I first heard about this movie from my cousins, I thought, “Man, I’m never going to watch this”. I mean, yeah, yeah, modern remakes of fairy tales are exciting but will it actually be worth watching? Well, I’m here to tell you first-hand: It was actually pretty good.

First of all, obviously, the singing and performance of the actors and actresses were so engaging. I’ve never watched the actual musical before but the tone and attitudes of the characters were portrayed really well through the full-of-emotion singing. For example, Cinderella, who was played by Anna Kendrick (YAS!), was an indecisive girl who couldn’t seem to decide between being caught by the prince at the ball or running back home to her simple life. On the steps of the castle, she cast out her thoughts through singing and got the audience wondering what she would do next. I loved how captivating and charming the musical quality of the movie was.

Another thing I really liked about Into The Woods was the plot line and how it strayed from the typical good endings in normal fairy tales. There were good lessons to be learned after watching it, like “You are never alone” and “Be careful what you wish for”. “I love how it puts emphasis on the dark sides of fairy tales rather than the cliched ‘happily ever after'”, says Yan Yan Huang, a junior at Lenape High School. As I was watching the first ending, I was like “Okay, that’s it? How disappointing,” but then! THAT TROLL. (No spoilers!)

Because of the good music that I loved but also the cheesy movie effects that I disliked, I rated Into The Woods a 8/10.

If you haven’t watched this movie already, which is unlikely since it came out last year, do check it out! It would be a great movie to see with your all your friends!