It Came From the Cinema: King Kong vs Godzilla (1962)

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, then dreamt up in your pphilosophy 

No joke, the first lines you hear in the English dub of TOHO's, King Kong vs Godzilla , is Shakespeare's Hamlet. And it is this line that I feel just explains the movies so well in both the relatively serious nature that is the world of Giant Monsters...as well as the idea that when you ever watch a Giant Monster movie, everything you know of science is put on its head via a sweaty Asian in a rubber suit. 

King Kong vs Godzilla is in its own right a monument in the world of cinema. To my knowledge, it is one of the first films to do the infamous "crossover" theme that you can now see in many films of the ilk of science fiction (Freddy vs Jason, Alien vs Predator, The Avengers, etc.). It is also Godzilla's first colored film and the third film he stars in. For Kong, this is also the first time he too has been since in color since the last King Kong film that was made Stateside was in 1933.  It in a way shows a more peaceful tie between America and Japan since the second World War is now only two decades behind them as the production of the film was due to the father of Kong (Willis O'Brien) and Toho (the makers of Godzilla). 

The film's plot is in a way serves as a relative "sequel" to the second Godzilla film, Godzilla Raids Again in 1955 (this is due to how Godzilla first appears in this film). The story* starts off with the United Nations news room as we get current event from around the globe, leading to a piece of the discovery of a miracle drug found in a fruit located in the South Pacific as well as a strange source of heat is located in the Bering Sea. We are then shown Japan and in the office of Pacific Pharmaceuticals The owner, Mr. Tako (played spastically throughout the film) wants  to mount an expedition to the island, but is warned by the scientist who discovered the fruit that the natives wish not share the fruit due to the island God. While Tako demands that the company should go to the island to get the fruit and the God, because for some reason a real monster is an easier way to solve their advertising issues. Meanwhile, an American sub investigates the strange heat and they find a radioactive iceberg that they somehow crash into. The crash then awakens Godzilla and the radioactive saurian is unleashed unto the world. ((Godzilla's appearance in an iceberg is the unofficial link between King Kong vs Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again since in the end of the latter, Godzilla is sealed into a glacier near where the iceberg is found.)) 

Once Godzilla begins his rampage across Japan and heads towards Tokyo, the agents for the company make it to the island where they meet the islanders (a bunch of Japanese actors doing the equivalent of South Pacific black face) who are then placated to allow the Japanese foreigners to collect their berries and try and find their god by introducing radio and then cigarettes with join. Yeah Civilization! Lets give cigarettes to children! It is then that lighting strikes and the roars of the god appears. 

There is also a subplot of the leader of the Japanese expedition's sister who goes on a quest to find her boyfriend in a presumed plane crash which leads to their reunion and a very "dramatic" "chase" scene between them and Godzilla. 

After subplot does it job, we then encounter an awesome sequence of a live octopus (yes a living octopus) attacking the natives on the island..only to be what draws the god of the island down from the mountains...KING KONG! 

Now the 8th Wonder of the World is now huge to match the size of Godzilla and design was is ape like...but...he has giant gorilla boobs which only recently have I realized is kind of odd for his design. After fighting the real octopus, this rubber suited Kong then gets drunk and passes out to island music before being placed on a raft to bring back to Japan.  

True story. 

The monsters now fully introduced, the movie continues to lead to the epic fights between the cinematic Titans of the East and West. 

This legendary battle of a film would later be one of Toho's highest grossing films of that year and a success in Japan as well as America. Many a child remembers seeing the legend that is Godzilla fighting King Kong. 

There is though a lot of myth behind this film. The greatest is the myth on the "victors" of the film. It was said that in the Japanese version, you hear Godzilla's roar while in America's version you hear King Kong. This is pure fan-myth since people sometimes get pretty butt hurt about this topic. I used to be  like this myself and then I came to the mature idea that "Well..it is just a movie." 

I think my favorite thing about this film is the origin of the movie. As mentioned earlier, Willis O'Brien was trying to pitch a radical movie idea for his hairy creation where King Kong would fight Frankenstein (not the legendary creature of the titular book). This idea of Frankenstein was actually supposed to be this mix-match of African animals that would be created by a scientist to battle Kong in a promotional wrestling match, and of course it goes terribly wrong. 

But American film makers didn't want to create such a film and O'Brien started to look else where and eventually ended up in Japan and presented his script to Toho. Toho liked it and said they would make it, under two conditions of course. 

1) That it is set in Japan. 
2) That instead of Frankenstein (who oddly enough Toho does later make two Frankenstein Monster films later one)...that King Kong face Godzilla to celebrate Godzilla's near decade of appearance. 

O'Brien agreed and Ishiro Honda, the director who pioneered the Japanese Giant Monster film (with his first film which was in fact...Godzilla -1954- ) and special effects wizard (and personal hero) Eiji Tsubarya who at the time was starting to create is own works such as Ultra Q and the Ultraman series. 

Many of you wonder how Kong would be able to stand toe to toe with a fire breathing Godzilla. Well....I don't want to spoil it really but...it has something to do with some science mumbo jumbo that is said between the American Actors (The Newsman and the "Scientist" ) about how electricity flows between reptiles and primates. <<--yeah you read that right.

The film also has some of my favorite Japanese actors (and when I say favorite...I mean my favorite actors I see in mostly the Godzilla franchise) but I would like to highlight my favorite face, Tadao Takashima. Tadao stars in many of Toho's monster films and appears in many Godzilla films as the "heroic and outgoing" character. Even the dubs seem to capture this essence of a man who is adventurous and charismatic. In the future, I'll probably make a guide to the Toho actors that I enjoy to better pain the picture of the Japanese people who even I grew up with the dubbed, show the professionalism and talent that they put into the human stories that are underfoot of the rubber suited behemoths. 

To close, King vs Godzilla is a gem for the Godzilla film series. It is still one of the most profitable Godzilla movies that Japan has produced. The film is fun for all ages and is one of the better rubber suited movies to watch if you are someone who is not particularly a fan of the series. Enjoyable to watch or to  have some friends give it a Mystery Science Theater 3000 on a Saturday night. This is a film where you can either root for Godzilla, King Kong, or for your friend to give you a little more food or drink to help make it at least an enjoyable experience. 

Henry Rating: 
6.5  / 10 
"Godzilla is the bad guy. Has he always been? Man Kong is getting owned. Wait...what is that science they just said. That can't be right. Is that a real octopus?! Well...that was fun. Can we watch another movie now..that doesn't have monsters?"

Later Gators, 
the Mad Man in the Cheapseats  

It Came from the Cinema: The Hunger (1983)

"You'll be back. When the hunger knows no reason! And then you'll need to feed, and you'll need me to show you how!" 

So the other night my friend introduced me to one of her favorite films. She lured me in with its advertising David Bowie (a god among men) as a lead role. With that in mine, I watched this film that surprised me. At first I thought I was going to get a run of a mill vampire film but what I got was a unique film that uses vampires as addicts to blood, sex and longevity.  It makes me wonder if this film helped instigate the idea of vampires being more of a seductive and menacing figure than the blood hunting monsters that we know of. 

The Hunger is directed by Tony Scott (the brother of Ridley Scott and directed Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop 2) is a film that starts off with a kinky and graphic sequence of David Bowie and his mistress Queen Vampire lady played by French actor Catherine Denevue as they lure a young woman and man to their more seductive desires while the band Bauhaus plays in the background. As the seduction escalates, we start seeing scenes of a lab experiment between two monkeys. One monkey is starting to get more aggressive and as the sexual tensions of Bowie and Denevue escalate, so does the monkey's rage. Eventually, these characters unleash their primal desires for blood and Denevue, Bowie, and the monkey graphically kill and eat their partners to be as eternal life and the cost of blood start to make their connections to the audience. 

After this attention grabbing sequence, we are then properly introduced to John (Bowie) and Miriam (Denevue) in their nice home somewhere in New York City. Their relationship is apparently all about their love, John is surprised at Miriam's sudden distance. When she leaves, the youthfulness of Bowie starts to fade into a much older man. As the rest of the first half of the movie continues, we wonderfully the rock start heart throb start to wither into a figure to match the centuries he has already lived. 

Meanwhile, back at the lab, we get more of a look of Susan Sarandon (of Rocky Horror Picture Show and Thelma and Louise fame)'s  character Sarah witness and is appealed at the behavior of the male monkey who killed and ate his former lover. We are revealed that Sarah is in pursuit of finding a way to study the aging process and wonders if it had something to do with the success of their experiment on the male. The male suddenly start to quickly fail with age as the monkey literally falls apart in decay. While this is going on, John confronts Sarah and pleads for her to help his own aging, which at first she doesn't notice and presumes him to be crazy. When she makes the discovery with her now pile of monkey ash, she find John again...two hours later and at least forty years older in appearance. John bitterly leaves Sarah who realizes that she missed the key to her experiment behind an elevator door. 

The final scenes of Bowie as he grows more desperate. Hungry. He is now depicted as a sick and aged predator as his prey (the loners of New York) easily fend off their pendent stabbing assailant. Like most sick predators in the wild, Bowie finds his last gambit in the girl across the street. 

When Miriam, the vampire seductress, returns home to discover a living corpse of Bowie who even after his kill cannot regenerate, she finally reveals the awful and terrible truth of the blessing/curse she had given Bowie centuries ago.

When Bowie is finally (and literally) boxed away with the rest of Miriam broken hearted lovers, Sarah personally visits the home. 

Now this is when the movie for me seemed to jump ship. 

For a film that flagships David Bowie, his character is almost a little too brief and when he gets put a way...quite literally...the lesbians come out to play. 

The rest of the film is Mirim's seduction and turning of Sarah in some of the most sensual and veiled curtain covered scenes of 80s sex scenes.

The sensual acts of the chemistry between the actresses goes from sexual to predatory as Miriam uses her lust to allow Miriam to mix their blood. Masking a bite with foreplay, the scenes get interrupted with the intense clippings of actually seeing the blood mix, showing the underlying darkness that courses through the women's veins. 

After this, Sarah now fights the new instincts that now have started to grow inside her and not to spoil how the films ends...but the climax of the film tests the women's role in their blossoming relationship and shows that Miriam might have sunk her teeth into more than she realized.

This film is something I would say is worth the watch. The sensuality of the film (I use that word a lot to describe this film) creates mysterious mythology and you can see Tony's big brother Ridley hanging an influence in an almost Bladerunner like way. What I mean by this is that the film has a background and mythology for a this world. But that is not the focus. This film is kind of the last days of one chapter closing for Miriam and the next opening the world to a larger domain. 

Willam DeFoe also makes a surprising and short lived cameo appearance as just a thug wanting to use go the pay phone.

To sum up. If you like the 80s, David Bowie, vampire and classic 80s boob shots that tell an intricate story of lust and addiction, The Hunger is a film for you. 

Henry rating: 

7.0 / 10

"What is this film about? Vampires? Is that David Bowie! Wow! Boobs! ....what just happened? Oh I see? Wow...that was...interestingly captivating."

Later Gators, 

the Mad Man in the Cheapseats 

It Came From the Cinema: Tusk (2014)

"Let us find out if at the dark heart of every man....if he is truly...a walrus" 

So now I do the first "It Came from the Cinema" review which, unlike my Now Playing Cinema reviews, are based on my home viewings. This means that you the viewer don't have to drive out but can stay in and watch in your preferred manner of movie watching. 

Anyways. 

Tusk 

oh god. 

Tusk!!

Kevin Smith (of Clerks fame) wrote and directed this first part of the "True North" film Trilogy known as Tusk. 

And honestly....this is a film that may not get the best review from me. Not because it was bad. It was not a bad movie. Its just.....if you like horror. If you like psycho path serial killers and most importantly if you like Canada....this is a movie to watch. 

But be warned. You will never unsee what you see in this movie. 

I watched this movie because a friend of mine also wanted to watch it. She and I got all cozy with me on the floor and her on the coach ready for what we thought as a funny dark romp of a man wanting to make a person into a Walrus. 

It was a silly concept that was an entertaining thought which allows the viewer to be taken a back from the fact that this movie will freak you the hell out. 

The story starts off with Justin Long playing as "Wallace", a now successful podcaster who is co-started by the sad marshmallow remains of Haley Joel Osment. Wallace leaves to go interview his latest "joke" he found on the internet and flies from LA to Canada. Once there (and after a fantastic case of banter between Long and Youtube star Harley Morenstein of Epic Meal Time fame) Long realizes that his interviewee has killed himself. Now stuck in Canada, a fateful ad in a the local bathroom leads him to "Pippy Hill" and the eccentric old man who has man stories to tell, Howard Howe played by Michael Parks (Kill Bill).  Justin Long and Michael Parks first time meeting each other is a captivating sequence as Long's character is reckless and young while Park's delivery of the stories from meeting Hemingway during D-Day to the almost romantic telling of his walrus penis bone on the mantel. Long's character is drugged during this by the tea he is served and as he falls to the floor (quite well might I add) the darker side of Howard Howe is revealed in his whisper..... 

"Its going to be okay....Mr. Tusk" 

From then on, we get flashback sequences to explain the rise of Wallace's career at the same time the falling of his relationship with is girlfriend Ally who is played by Genesis Rodrigeuz (who also voiced Honey Lemon in the animated feature Big Hero 6).  As flashbacks show us the audience how Wallace is kind of...well...a sell-out asshole, Ally is cheating on him (mostly because he's sleeping around already) for Teddy (the Haley Joel Osment role) who is kind of just going with it because he has....well...I guess "truer feelings" for Ally. It just kind of hit me that we don't really know why Teddy is so okay with having his best friend's girl go for him. It wasn't out of spite...hmm..interesting. 

((just a warning readers...I do get sidetracked sometimes)) 

Anyways...while those flashbacks are going on (and beware..it gets a little spoiler from here) we see the sickening story between Wallace and Howard. Howard cuts off one of Wallace's legs (and poorly blames it on a spider) and surely and uncomfortably turning him into walrus. If you ever wanted to see how one can turn a human into a full on Walrus and you aren't squeamish...these scenes will make you squeamish. The movie isn't exactly gore but it can get a little uncomfortable mostly because Michael Parks nails down this role of Howard who is is a broken man deep down due to him being an orphan that pretty much was a child sex doll growing up that ran away to the sea. On one of his sea voyages he gets lost at sea and befriends a walrus who he lives with and falls in love with, claiming that the bond he shared with "Mr. Tusk was more real than any human relationship is capable of." Once Wallace is in his "Walrus Suit" (which is made by..get this....the skin of humans that Howard has killed over the years) Howard keeps Wallace in an enclosure and conditions him to become a Walrus. The reason why he is doing is later revealed to be a way for closure since Howard apparently before he was rescued had killed his beloved Mr. Tusk and regretted it deeply, feeling that he didn't give Mr. Tusk a fighting chance. The conclusion to this is Wallace (now Mr. Tusk) fighting Howard to test Howard's theory of which life is better, being a man or a walrus.

Johnny Depp (oddly enough my second review features this actor again) is in this movie as a homicide detective named  Guy Lapointe who is looking for Howe, known to him as the "First Wife Killer" because the remains of Howe's victims always have one leg, holes in the jaws, and the tongue cut out. This character's presence returns the comedy to an other wise grim and morbid horror film. Depp is hilarious. I haven't enjoyed his performance like this since Rango.  I love this character and I look forward and am excited that Guy Lapointe will also appear in the second part of the "True North Trilogy" in the upcoming Yoga Hosers which stars two characters from this film as well. The amazingly attractive clerks at the "eh to zed" connivence store are respectively Kevin Smith and Johnny Depp's daughters.

I have talked to some friends about this movie and it seems that the ending might be the only weakness to this film..since it is a kind of unorthodox ending and you will understand it if you remember a scene where Ally and Jason (before he's a walrus) talk about crying and how it is okay to cry because it separates us from the animals. The ending is played on that idea.

To conclude, Tusk might be my favorite thriller / horror film for 2014. The performance done by Michael Parks is creepy, clever, and morbid and even though you will squirm in your seat you will not gaze anywhere else when he starts to speak or move. Justin Long I feel like should be consider some very good acting, since the later half of him is in the Walrus suit. And its nice to see Haley again....it just makes me sad how big his face is now. Sorry Haley, I'm not trying to be mean. You did good in this movie.

Henry Rating:
8.5 / 10
"I wasn't expecting this as an answer to that question of is it better to be man or walrus. But I guess that is how life works...its harsh and real and full of surprises. And quite a bit of fish."

Hope you enjoy the review!

Later Gators,
The Mad Man in the Cheap Seats

Now Playing Cinema: Into the Woods (2014)

                         "Careful the things you say....wishes are like children"

For my first film review it will go into the category of "Now Playing Cinema" which will mean its is currently in theaters (well for me...since I live in Korea at the mo).

Going to start off the new years with the film Into the Woods.

Into the Woods is one of Disney's holiday season showing films and honestly it took me by surprised. If one doesn't know the play, it seems advertised as another little childish romp in the woods with fairy tell characters and song with an amazing all star cast with stop what you are doing and listen "

It is far from that. In a really good and positive way.

Into the Woods' plot is introducing the characters who are set in a fairy tale kingdom. We meet Cinderella, Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk), the Baker and his childless Wife, and Little Red Riding Hood. They all sing (unknowingly together) about what they wish most of all. Cinderella wants to go to the ball, Jack wants to keep his best friend who is a cow, the Baker and his Wife want a child and Little Red wants to have a safe trip to Grandmother's house. This sets up the story where the "Old Witch From Next Door" approaches the Baker couple and sets them forth into the woods in a quest to break a curse over them and the Witch which inadvertently effects all the characters and later brings disastrous consequences to the kingdom.

Not to go into a straight play by play of the film (because I can't stand spoilers and want you the reader to enjoy the movie without knowing exactly what is next), I'm going to talk about what I liked and what I disliked.

First off, the thing that I think shines the most in this film is the cast. Oh man, did they get a cast that fits perfectly for Disney's equivalent of Les Miserable. I'm going to first address the main leads in detail and then short blurbs on the other characters.

The Cast:

The Witch: Meryl Streep
          Meryl plays the cursed Witch who sets the Baker and his Wife on their quest to break their curse of infertility on their house while at the same time trying to break her own curse her mother placed in the loosing of the "magic beans" from her garden. Meryl rocks this role. Oh my god, like words can't even describe it fully how grand she is in this film. Both forms of the Witch (the cursed form and her true beauty form aka her mega-evolution...sorry...had to make a Pokemon joke) she plays so amazingly well. The Witch is pretty much this rouge character and you can't say she is good or bad. Her songs are amazing and Meryl I think just enjoyed playing this character. I really enjoyed the mother role she plays for Rupenzal's story and the conflicts you see in those points of the story. Her final song I think plays the best to Meryl's role which was "Last Midnight". I loved this song and I think it shows the Witch's true role in the film of pretty much the monkey paw character. "You all made wishes for this and now you have deal with the consequences." Even she faces this after Rupenzal rejects her in the second part of the story and I viewed her triggering her mother's curse again by losing more magic beans (which oddly don't grow into the giant summoning bean stalks) was kind of her being like "I'm done with this. Want to blame me? Fine. Have fun with the giant."And even in this departure she still aids the characters in saving the kingdom.

Even if this movie doesn't float well with you, Meryl will make it worth the watching.


The Baker's Wife: Emily Blunt
            Emily Blunt plays the Baker's wife and is one of my favorite characters (ah to hell...all the characters where great). Blunt's performance was awesome and she plays very well with James Corden's character of the Baker. I love her character and I feel many people will (or already have) fall for her. In the first act of the film, she like her husband wish for a Child and it is her main goal. But in her quest to find the items needed, she wanders and interacts with Cinderella and Prince Charming. Here we see a contrast of Cinderella doubting if the royal way of life is for her and the Baker's wife seems infatuated at the idea of living in the place. This interaction wonderful plants the seeds for act 2 (quite literally actually). In act 2, the Baker's wife is finally has a child but now that she has a family she starts to doubt if it is really what she wants. When she goes looking for Jack to protect him from the wrath of a widowed giant, she meets Prince Charming again and the two....in the chaos that is occurring in the wood...have an affair. The Prince woos her into a kiss and then they kiss and kiss and kiss. Pretty much Disney's first non-animated "Sex scene in song and dance". This affair though when it over Wife realizes her wants are not as lasting as her needs (her husband and child) and gives the performance of my favorite song "Moments in the Woods." In the joy of realizing she doesn't need the affections of the prince she gets lost in the woods and meets a rather sad and tragic fate. Its quite sad. Made me sad. I liked the Baker's Wife remember.

The Baker: James Corden
I first saw James Corden in his roles in the Matt Smith era of Doctor Who and I am always delighted to see him on the screen. I saw him in Begin Again and he played a great role and that. Being one of the leads in Into the Woods, he rocks the role of the Baker. In a way, James Corden's Baker reminds me of his character in Doctor Who (even we get a "why does the baby cry whenever I hold it" line in the second act). Corden's Baker is such a great character and I feel that he is the character who the audience loves because he questions the actions of the other characters as we would. Corden's interaction with the other characters are amazing and he seems to ask them the audience's questions of "why the hell would you do that?" His signing is impeccable as well and he just...its almost meets no words on how good he performed in this production. Corden does a really good job of also playing the motions that the Baker's attitude towards being a father and dealing with the fear of becoming like his own. He also plays the Narrator (which is explained why at the end of the film) and the delivery of the darker narrations of the film is flawlessly delivered in some dark humor. Example "and then Cinderella's birds made the step sisters...blind". The Baker is my favorite character in this production and next to Streep, delivers an amazing and drawing display for the audience.

Cinderella: Anna Kendrick 
Anna Kendrick.... the beautiful beautiful angel known as Anna Kendrick, plays Cinderella. And plays Cinderella fantastically she does. I have never seen Pitch Perfect but now I have to see it just so I can her here sing even more and watch her just natural gift of acting. Her Cinderella maybe my favorite portrayal of the character. I like seeing how she captures the emotions of this version of Cinderella's reluctance seen after her wish to go to the ball is answered by her Mother's spirit. I do like this change that there is no "Fairy Godmother" and that is was the soul of Cinderella's mother that beautifies her to enter the festival for the Prince. Her interactions with the other characters of the Kingdom are great. Her performance with Prince Charming is fantastic because her expression demonstrate the hesitation that even though Prince Charming is the"perfect guy" we detect she can see past it and notice that maybe he's not all that everyone says he is. Her bird summoning power is first cute but then...as the story continues to get darker..because this pretty vengeful power (making her stepsisters blind. Killing the giant. Spying on the Prince and telling her about his adultery with the Baker's wife.) My favorite song she does "On the Steps of the Palace" where she decides that she doesn't want to choose where she belongs anymore and tests the faith of the Prince's longing for her by leaving her shoes on the stairs of the palace. The humor of this song and how she performs (which is pretty much her having a song explain her quick thinking while the world slows down around her) is just very well performed and executed in the film. I definitely have a heart throb for this musical actress because of this movie.

Cinderella's Prince "Prince Charming": Chris Pine 
To be honest...I thought having Captain Kirk and Jack Frost Chris Pine be in a musical was quite a surprisingly form of casting. And when seeing him preform in this movie, its a surprisingly good performance from an otherwise known action film actor. Chris Pine's Prince Charming is best described by one of his last words in the production after his affair with the Baker's Wife is addressed to him by Cinderella. "I was taught to be charming, not sincere." His over played emotions of love and romance are best demonstrated by his duet with Rapunzel's Prince (Played by Billy Magnussen) that Prince Charming is simply just a Prince Charming and can't get past the fact that other people are more important than his quest to be the "loving prince". Chris Pine does a brilliant and humorous job of being this sexual driven Prince of the kingdom. I kind of wish he had more screen time because his pursuit for Cinderella and later the Baker's Wife is just funny and interesting to portray the fairy tale princes to being spoiled deviants.

The Wolf: Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp's role for Into the Woods is a very glorified actor cameo playing probably the most perverted character in the whole movie. Even though Depp's performance captures the predatory nature of the Wolf, his song "Hello, Little Girl" is like a pedophiles' anthem. Its a very well portrayed song but it does kind of have a very sexual nature. Johnny Depp does a grand job of portraying the Wolf as a sleazy and cunning Wolf. I honestly wonder if Depp's was portrayed as an actual Wolf and not as a theatrical humanized wolf that this sexual lust for the "plump little girl" would give the audience of a predatory wolf and not a predatory man in the woods who wants the little cute girl. I think its a very good thing that Johnny Depp's role is relatively brief in the production...because god know what would happen if he saw Jack too.

Little Red Riding Hood: Lilla Crawford
Lilla Crawford is introduced for the first time to the screen as Little Red Riding Hood. She apparently performed as "Annie" in the most recent production of the spunky little red haired orphan in New York and now she puts on the red hood to portray one of my favorite rendition of the little girl on the way to her grandmother's house. Hilarious when she first appears since she sings well while stuffing her face with the Baker's goods that she needs for "Grandmothers" house, she is a no nonsense little girl in a nonsense kind of world. I like also how she wears the deceased Pedo-Wolf's fur as her new coat and after her song "I Know Things Now" which also reflects she was happy to have met the Wolf because he showed her there was much more to the world, she pities him for his ravenous nature and is happy he is dead. She also reveals a very good morale of "Nice is different than Good." After her song which is performed well and very in the manner that a child has learned a lesson. Through out the rest of the film, she kind of is the logical one of the group of characters lost in Woods. I also really like that she is pities the Giantress that they have to kill her (which leads to my favorite non-Streep song of the performance). I do hope that Crawford appears in more musical films because I think she has a good talent for the musical sides of the silver screen.

Rapunzal: Mackenzie Mauzy
Rapunzal's role in the story is the stolen child / adopted daughter of Meryl Streep's Witch. Honestly though I wish I could say more about this character but the plot story of Rapunzal in the film is mostly to show the more motherly side of Streep's Witch and because of this I feel she becomes quite lacking. She doesn't really have much a song, except for the melody she sings that attracts her personal prince. This plot point though might show the most diabolical side of the Witch since Streep grows dangerous thorny vines in an attempt to kill Rapunzel's Prince to keep her safe. Rapunzal doesn't really play too much and its kind of sad. I have read she has more of a roll in the stage production and has a much more tragic end on stage than in the film (where she simply just leaves the witch and is never seen again.)

Jack: Daniel Huttlestone
Oh look! Its the British boy who rocked as the street urchin Gavroche in the latest film version of 2012's Les Miserable. It was a welcomed surprise to see the English born actor be a lead in this film and he portrays a very good Jack. The beans, the love for his cow, and his thirst for adventure makes him an enjoyable character whenever you see him. He is also a character with a lot of heart because he steals from the giants mostly to make his Mother (played by Tracey Ullman) live a better life and to buy back his best friend, Milky White the cow. The energy of Jack is great because you see him grow up in this film. When we first see him he is a carefree boy but when the Giants come down to Earth, he starts to realize that he should probably stay away from adventures. His relationship with the Bakers is also great interactions. The best interaction is when he meets Little Red Riding Hood and she challenges him to prove his tales (which leads to the death of the first Giant). Jack and the Baker's relationship is great because their bond as strangers grows into a sort of big brother / father and son relationship. The most fun Jack song is "There are Giants in the Sky" which is his  playful recounting of his adventures in the lands high above the clouds.

There are other characters that are all great and fabulous. Cinderella's family is portrayed well and the appearance of the Baker's Ghost of a Father is a nice touch to help impact the characters to grow into people who should be more careful of what they wish for

The best quality of this film I think is that is very much acts like a stage play that isn't constricted to the stage. . Like how the giants are portrayed only briefly in a way you could imagine that despite they could easily show us the whole thing...its like the giants are still restricted to how they would be portrayed in a play. This adds for cinematic effects to allow a greater sense of the world these characters are in and I applaud the effects and camera angles that allow the audience to get more of an impact from the performance and songs. I think the greatest effect is the end where we see the that the wishes of these main characters have lead to the near destruction of the kingdom.

My one nitpick about the film is two continuity problems: Rapunzel's hair being cut the first time and the kind of disappearance of everyone who are not the main cast. They get introduced well but I feel like their departures are a bit....too soon?

To close, Into the Woods is an amazing film and a delight to watch. This film is not though for young children due to the much darker and the adult themes are good, but I feel that for a younger audience they won't get it to the effect that they could possibly loose interest in the story all together. It really stretches its PG rating. I would recommend seeing this film in theaters. The cast is great. The story is brilliant and from my readings it plays very true to the original stage production for the most part. A great film and a bold undertaking for Disney. Go see Into the Woods and the dark tale of warning what wishing for something can get you if that wish comes true!

Henry Rating:
9.5 / 10
"So good you'll listen to the soundtrack immediately for a whole weekend and figure a way to see it again with friends."

Hope you enjoyed the review!

Later Gators,
The Madman in the Cheap Seats