Welcome back friends, countrymen and various people of sizes, as we continue our look into the various films coming out at this time of year, which are on the face of it, merely designed to both earn off your hard earned laziness and also the shiny shiny bling to show off afterwards and hit people over the head with at the after parties.

If you down the woods today, you’re sure for a big surprise. But enough of illegal acts, please step forward our next contestant, Oscar nominee for Costume Design, Production Design, and Actress in a Supporting Role;

Produced by Disney this little Christmas miracle came from the depths of hell that comes with being a Broadway musical and apparently according to the internet, had been stuck in development hell for quite a number of years.

So what’s it all about then and are there any cavemen looking drugged a la that film that keeps on giving, Foxcatcher? Well, Into the Woods gives us a rather interesting melding of several well known fairy tales with some messed up ting thrown in for good measure.

In essence from the get go, we have a number of threads running for us to keep track of, but of which will all come together at certain points.

A nice friendly baker (One Mr. James Corden) and his wife (One Mr. Emily Blunt) wish for a child of their very own (One Mr. non-present at the time child actor) but apparently despite plenty of fun in the bedroom, no dice. Turns out a witch (One Mr. Meryl Streep) placed a curse of verse upon the house after Jame Corden’s dad (One Mr. guy I don’t know) was stealing food.

All of a sudden, said Witch breaks down their front door and offers to lift the curse, but only if James and Emily obtain four things for her: a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. Guess how they come up….

These beans also make you produce a magical gas…

Here comes young Jack, who was tasked with selling such a cow and soon the youngster has some magic beans which grow into a either a beanstalk or a bonzai tree. Our next story thread comes from one Red Riding Hood, who happens to have dun dun duhhhh, the red cape they seek.

Third on the list, is that lovely lady who struggled to find a decent hairdresser Rapunzel, the Witch’s adopted daughter whose tower the Baker’s Wife passes in the woods; But what of the golden footwear? Turns out, that belongs of course to Cinderella (One Mr. Anna Kendrick), who basically after getting to go to the ball, keeps running away from Captain Kirk (One Mr. Chris Pine)

Generally after a few f**k-ups everyone gets their wish in some shape or form and you would be thinking that was it. But turns out, that couldn’t be further from the truth, and that’s where we start seeing the reason why with the trailer, it warned us why we should be careful what we wish for and the reality of getting what the wish was, may in fact have unforeseen consequences.

You know I’ve been round the galaxy and loved….many women….

It’s at this point all the threads come together and we see the characters start to look at the morals of the situation that befalls the land and of course themselves being stuck in the middle of the world’s largest forest with a very large lady who is more than a bit p*ssed off.

Some of it was actually quite surprising to see in a PG rated film, but nevertheless, raises the bar in terms of expectations and although some of it is dealt in a haphazard manner that doesn’t quite make sense, it was a very welcome move and perhaps the Broadway show this was based on when further than what the film ever did.

As it’s a musical, credit where credit is due, there wasn’t a bad performance from anyone in terms of that singing, and Meryl Streep really gives some powerful presence on screen when she gets going.

There are a few notable moments in the drama that unfolds that frankly cannot go without mention. One Mr Johnny Depp, who makes a brief appearance as Mr Wolf, looks like a cartoon character but the manner of which he addressed Little Red Riding Hood, is nothing short of damned creepy, and that in this case is a compliment.

But the ultimate show stealer has to be our trusty Starfleet Captain of the Enterprise, who as Prince Charming, has a sing-off with another prince about who is in more AGONY (that’s the name of the song clearly, and seriously it had to be written in caps lock) by a waterfall, while also wanting to look in pain and show off their manliness. It has to be seen to be believed how much campness occurs on screen to great effect.

Oh dear god, I’m not creepy at all!

But there are a few moments that you wonder, hang on, how the hell did that happen, and was that really in keeping with the character’s thoughts and feelings? It also seems that if you get married in the land of fairy tales, it’s going to last about 10 minutes at most.

The origins of the Broadway musical are also apparent as a lot of the time, the camera focuses in on a few characters in an area as though they are on a static stage and there are glimpses of bigger things but it’s all things we basically never get to see. It’s like we got the cut down version of a much bigger story and perhaps in those cuts, there would have been a bit more fleshing out of why things happened the way they did.

But enough of this drivel, given the season of awards chasing, is it worth a watch? Well the answer has to be a yes, with a caveat that you watch this as though you were in the theater at the West End as then it actually makes a lot more then. Watching at home, may not actually make any sense at all.

Aside from the Agony moment where I challenge anyone not to at least smile at the ridiculous overacting, you’re probably not going to remember much afterwards which is a shame as the darkness which comes in the later part of the film actually makes it more interesting to deal with issues of fidelity and killing. Something you never expect when dealing with fairy tales.