Steven Sondheim's musical theater meditation on the complication, compromise, and carnality that adulthood brings to the fairy-tale world of children's fairy tales, gently Disneyfied for younger audiences eager to sing along. (Don't fret when Johnny Depp's leering Big Bad Wolf lifts his leg to block Little Red Riding Hood's progress; all he wants to show her is the candy under his coat! Tee hee!) It works well enough for the first half, as the story weaves together a passel of classics into a single yarn that takes various characters into the realm of change, uncertainty, and possibility that is The Woods. But then, into this happy fantasy comes the great buzzkill of mundane reality: when you win at life, who loses? Who suffers so that you may get what you want? And what happens when you get what you want and you're still unsatisfied? ("Ever after" is an awfully long time to live happily, after all.) The fairy tale endings start to unravel, and The Woods become more of a swamp: the drama bogs down, the characters get besmirched, and the best we can hope for is a murky lesson in the difficulty of making family fare out of a cautionary tale for parents. The haunting line, Careful the things you say, children will listen... might well be rendered, Careful the films you see, children are watching... But if you don't mind a little subversion, the songs are catchy, and the cast — notably Emily Blunt as the Baker's wife, Anna Kendrick as Cinderella, and Chris Pine as Prince Charming — is fine. (2014) — Matthew Lickona
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