CREDIT: DISNEY ENTERPRISES, INC.
Meryl Streep exercises her singing chops as the Witch in Disney's Into the Woods.

What would you do if a witch burst into your apartment and began singing of curses and beans and a quest to be completed? Head Into the Woods, of course, and assault random fairy tale characters to accomplish the witch’s tasks.

For those who can follow the many interweaving threads, the movie touches on multiple fairy tales, including Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Little Red Riding Hood, slightly morphing each tale as they fit into the new design.

None remain as they were, and each is given a new, darker perspective that makes one rethink the original tales. The stories call back to the original bloody tales from the Grimm Brothers, far from the clean and politically correct versions a modern audience would be used to.

This newest Disney movie features an all-star cast, from old staples such as Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp to new favourites Chris Pine and Anna Kendrick, as well as several new faces who manage to hold their own, but get a bit lost among so many.

While all of the characters portrayed are familiar, each one manages to have enough of a twist to maintain the audience’s attention. Into the Woods takes familiar stories and turns them on their head,and then occasionally appears to forget that it was following that particular character at all.

For those who are generally fans of musicals, there is no shortage of catchy numbers. The common issue of reducing musicals to a few main songs – such as in Chicago and Hairspray – is avoided, with spoken scenes being few and far between.

Depp as the Wolf manages such a creepy and convincing song about consuming Little Red Riding Hood that one starts to wonder – after all, this is far from the first time one of Depp’s characters has spoken/sung about cannibalism. None of the cast disappoints vocally, and a couple of the songs will likely end up being heard in showers across the country.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect is that, thanks to a general avoidance of green screens and CG, the movie manages to feel like a theatre experience. Everything is incredibly realistic, and every scene is laced with amazing details and astounding scenery.

Costume designer Colleen Atwood managed to capture the essence of each character perfectly while maintaining a cohesive style, with flawless touches to hair and makeup that complete the transformations from simple actors to beings of fantasy.

Into the Woods manages to capture the essence of the original musical while appealing to a broad audience, with an exemplary cast and a crew that must have worked tirelessly to pull off perfection. Although the number of characters and stories makes loose threads inevitable, the movie does a good job of pulling most of them together to form a whole that reminds the audience that no story is as simple as good versus evil.

Instead, everyone – from princes to witches – has wishes, although it might be best if not all come true.