Reel Critics: ‘Woods’ is lovely, dark and deep

“Into the Woods” is Disney’s film version of Stephen Sondheim’s award winning play. The plot borrows basic elements from “Cinderella,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Rapunzel” and “Little Red Riding Hood.” These children’s stories are represented in several mix-and-match parts.

It sounds like definitive family fare. But the darker side of the Grimm fairy tales dominates events on-screen. Likable female characters are killed and children are placed in deadly situations, while treachery and infidelity occur.

The film offers great production values, beautiful cinematography and, of course, the Sondheim songs. Meryl Streep makes a great wicked witch. Anna Kendrick plays a fine Cinderella. A buffed Chris Pine is the perfect handsome prince. James Corden and Emily Blunt are dutiful peasants trying to overcome the witch’s curse against their family.

It’s all very well done, but not suitable for younger children and should be rated PG-13. The current PG rating for this film continues the downward movement of the MPAA rating system, allowing more adult-oriented themes in movies geared toward children.

At over two hours, it’s too long for the fluffy nature of the material. But it delivers what’s expected at the musical intersection of Hollywood and Broadway.

—John Depko

*

Burton goes small in ‘Big’

“Big Eyes” is the rare Tim Burton drama that doesn’t include imaginary effects or even Johnny Depp. This fact-based story of major art fraud shows how truth is stranger than fiction.

Margaret (Amy Adams) is a newly single mother struggling to make a living as an artist in 1950s San Francisco. The movie’s title aptly describes her style of painting saucer-eyed waifs that reflect her own lost, lonely soul.

She meets and marries Walter Keane (Christoph Waltz), a “Sunday painter,” ladies man and promoter of mediocre paintings.

Walter seizes on an opportunity to claim Margaret’s paintings as his own and convinces her to go along with the idea — “I’m Keane, you’re Keane, what’s the difference?”

Over time, as Keane paintings become world famous, Margaret truly suffers for her art and never receives credit, while Walter makes everyone suffer at the expense of his ego.

Adams is wonderful as the vulnerable wife who finally stands up for herself. Waltz is a larger-than-life type that director Burton enjoys with a relish, and the Oscar-winning star is given free rein to chew the scenery.

The heart and big-eyed soul of this candy-colored tale really belongs to Margaret Keane, all but upstaged on-screen just as in real life.

*

‘Turn’-ing slowly but surely

“Mr. Turner” is scenes from the life of 19th century British romantic painter J.M.W. Turner in his later years. Directed by Mike Leigh (“Secrets & Lies”), each frame is as breathtaking visually as any of the great artist’s works.

As portrayed by Timothy Spall (perhaps best known as Peter Pettigrew in the “Harry Potter” movies), Turner is a portly curmudgeon given to hog-like sounds to denote pleasure and irritation.

This is not a biopic of awed reverence by any means. Turner is a man of crude and refined tastes given to acts of cruelty and kindness. We are given no explanation for his behavior. We only see the places from where he took his inspiration.

The cast is superb, and Spall gives a performance so skilled we find him oddly fascinating and come to look forward to hearing his grunts and wheezes.

“Mr. Turner” moves erratically at a snail’s pace, but the last scene of heartbreak seems to make it all worth the effort.

—Susanne Perez

JOHN DEPKO is a retired senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. He lives in Costa Mesa and works as a licensed private investigator. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a company in Irvine.