Into the Woods
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: December 25, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews
Positive:
31
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesStephen HoldenDec 24, 2014
Into the Woods, the splendid Disney screen adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical, infuses new vitality into the tired marketing concept of entertainment for “children of all ages.” That usually translates to mean only children and their doting parents. But with Into the Woods, you grow up with the characters, young and old, in a lifelong process of self-discovery. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comSusan WloszczynaDec 24, 2014
The singing is often splendid. The bits of humor are deftly handled. The pace is relatively swift. And it never feels like a static rendition of a theatrical event dumbed down for a younger demographic. Read full review
88
New York PostLou LumenickDec 24, 2014
Stephen Sondheim’s stage classic Into the Woods, a dark and subversive musical take on fairy tales, not only survives but triumphs in the composer’s most unlikely collaboration with Disney. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldChristine DolenDec 23, 2014
Marshall, who established himself as a great movie musical director with 2002’s Oscar-winning Chicago, has done a masterful job of collaborating with Sondheim and Lapine to transform their 1987 Tony Award-winning, two-act musical into a film that flows seamlessly as it juggles its intertwining storylines. Read full review
88
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeDec 17, 2014
Marshall deserves credit for knowing how to shoot and cut (alongside editor Wyatt Smith, “Thor: The Dark World”) a musical number, and his work here ranks much closer to his success with “Chicago” than to his dismal “Nine.” Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanDec 27, 2014
The big star with the most unexpected chops, though, is Chris Pine, who runs with his Prince Charming role and, along with Billy Magnussen as Rapunzel's Prince, contributes the movie's best musical moment with the duet "Agony." Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 24, 2014
Although its first hour is more stunning than its second, this is a movie musical that, for a change, never degenerates into a false wholesomeness. It’s one of the rare musicals that both children and adults can enjoy, though for somewhat different reasons. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesStephanie HayesDec 23, 2014
On film, Into the Woods feels tighter, the tone more cohesive. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyDec 24, 2014
What makes Into the Woods so entertaining is the cleverness of the tale itself and the way specific characters match the talents of its storytellers. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 23, 2014
The cast is top-notch, the story is satisfyingly dark, the performances are fun and, of course, the songs are terrific. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyDec 17, 2014
This twisty fairy-tale mash-up shows an appreciation for the virtues of old-fashioned storytelling, along with a welcome dash of subversive wit. It benefits from respect for the source material, enticing production values and a populous gallery of sharp character portraits from a delightful cast. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 17, 2014
The film is a whirl of pure pleasure that just keeps whirling: Sondheim doesn’t write show-stoppers but show-surgers, and from the moment the glorious opening number whips up, introducing the central players, the film cartwheels onwards until it lands at its unexpected but quite beautiful happy-ever-after. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsDec 27, 2014
Indeed, most of the famous faces are surprisingly adept at singing. Even when the actors are not lip-syncing (which seems to be about half the time), the dense, clever lyrics are intelligible. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 27, 2014
Johnny Depp, in bushy eyebrows, sinister mustache, and a suit and hat of fur, may be too cartoonishly lascivious for his own good as the wolf who pursues the girl in the scarlet cape to Grandmother's house. But then he gets to croon the couplet, "There's no way to describe what you feel / When you're talking to your meal." Delicious. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 24, 2014
Into the Woods is forced in some places but exquisitely right in others, and it gains strength as it goes. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 23, 2014
Faithful but not slavishly faithful to the source, the movie retains most of the songs but streamlines the story, particularly in the second half. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Brad WheelerDec 23, 2014
What is celebrated is the art of storytelling and the bedazzling attraction of a killer cast, uninhibited acting, giddy escapism, attractive visuals and an extroverted score. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerDec 22, 2014
Even if this Into The Woods lacks the exhilaration of the best movie musicals, it does capture the show’s emotional intimacy—no small task in a field that favors razzle dazzle. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 22, 2014
Into the Woods rumbles on for too long and has some dry patches here and there — but just when we’re growing fidgety, we get another rousing musical number or another dark plot twist, and we’re back in business. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 22, 2014
The movie works best whenever Corden and Blunt, performers of nearly limitless appeal and sweet-natured vulnerability, take the story back from their cohorts, though Kendrick is no less beguiling. Read full review
75
ObserverRex ReedDec 17, 2014
Another example of concept over coherence, but the entertainment value is considerable. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 19, 2014
I’m only half-kidding when I suggest that you see the movie but leave (especially if you have kids) at what’s obviously the end of the first act. You’ll still get the dissonances, ambiguities, and portents of doom, along with much that is pure enchantment. And you won’t leave thinking the movie had been made by the Big Bad Wolf. Read full review
70
VarietyScott FoundasDec 17, 2014
Marshall hasn’t made one of the great movie musicals here, but he hasn’t bungled it either — far from it. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisDec 23, 2014
As the ugly and bitter witch who yearns for stolen life, Streep’s performance, for the most part, is strangely joyless. Once upon a time, this actress knew how to keep it fresh when going over the top ("Death Becomes Her," anyone?), but here she’s hardly bewitching. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyDec 17, 2014
The first two-thirds of the film, which are like the Brothers Grimm's Greatest Hits on laughing gas, have a fizzy, fairy-dust energy. But as soon as the baker couple's scavenger hunt is over and a rampaging giant appears, Woods loses its magic and momentum and sags like an airless balloon. Read full review
63
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 24, 2014
Yes, the sets and costumes elicit swoons, but it's the peerless Sondheim score, however truncated, that makes this Woods a prime destination. Read full review
63
Washington PostStephanie MerryDec 23, 2014
The casting for the movie is outstanding. Streep is marvelous, as always, but in this case she outdoes even herself (and the script) by bringing a degree of poignancy to her conniving character. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 23, 2014
Into the Woods left me out in the cold. The long-gestating cinematic adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's fairy tale-infused Broadway musical, Into the Woods can claim a clever screenplay and a few enjoyable performances but little else. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia PuigDec 22, 2014
The notion that children are raised on fairy tales and the question of how those early stories affect us all — even into adulthood — remains fascinating and is delivered here with visual panache and musical flair. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreDec 22, 2014
Streep, Marshall & Co. still manage to do the “Woods” justice. And if it’s more impressive than embraceable, remember your Sondheim (“Sweeney Todd,” “A Little Night Music,” etc.). That’s kind of his thing. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundDec 19, 2014
This PG-rated romp is, refreshingly, less notable for its happily-ever-afters than its oh-no-they-didn'ts. Read full review
60
Total FilmJamie GrahamJan 9, 2015
Family entertainment with death, limb-lopping and other horrors. If you go Into The Woods today, you’ll be surprised how faithful this is to the dark stage musical. Read full review
60
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeJan 5, 2015
Into the Woods starts better than it finishes but it’s a great-looking film, with a nicely old-school, easy-on-the-CG feel. Read full review
60
EmpireAngie ErrigoJan 5, 2015
There are brilliant, bewitching moments allied to hilarious and touching ones. Just not enough of them in what veers, at length, between the clever, the terrifying and the bit tiring. Read full review
60
The DissolveGenevieve KoskiDec 22, 2014
As a film, Into The Woods is trapped between the stage and the screen, at odds with both its source material and its adopted medium. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanDec 20, 2014
Loyal fans of the Sondheim original may feel a bit let down themselves. There’s much to love here. But working with original “Woods” writer and Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, Marshall tones down the crucial dark shading in some places and has trouble with pacing in others. Read full review
58
HitfixDrew McWeenyDec 27, 2014
Whether it's past its pop-culture expiration date or not, Into The Woods deserved a more visually inventive director to help make it work, and instead, we get something that feels somehow reduced by its translation to the screen. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensDec 27, 2014
The tedium of Into the Woods’ second half has less to do with the downbeat subject matter than Marshall’s clumsy direction. Read full review
50
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezDec 20, 2014
Has its moments, especially any time Streep is on screen, but as it strains on at an overlong two hours, the glitter of fairy tale movie magic diminishes, leaving only a pale shadow. Read full review
50
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlDec 16, 2014
Rob Marshall simply cuts from one tale to the next, isolating his actors. There's little sense that the fairytale space is a shared one -- it's just a bunch of noisy incident transpiring in unrelated treestands. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 22, 2014
As strong as that cast and those visuals are, however, they don't quite add up enough to guarantee a happily-ever-after for moviegoers looking for a memorable in-theater experience. Read full review
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