Granted, not all of the Sherman Bros' songs in this are great, but the songs hardly damaged the movie, as White and his wife seemed to have thought. "Mother Earth and Father Time" and "There Must Be Something More" are particularly nice.
shareMost authors of books with dark subject matter don't like it when they're adapted into lighthearted animated or live-action musicals. Creative differences is all. But I'll bet you if White had lived to see the 2006 Charlotte's Web film or the Stuart Little films, he'd probably prefer this film.
Totally agree with Explorer.
For one thing, I think every song is brilliant. For another, the film does the book complete justice, in my view...still kid-friendly, but not some total sugarcoating. I've always found it very deeply moving and affecting, and never thought that it ignored or mistreated the dark subject matter. Indeed, I feel the full weight of it every time I see the film.
The live-action version was cute, but far less memorable...all I really recall from it is one beautiful song ("Ordinary Miracle") and the fact that Steve Buscemi--whom I love--was a very worthy Templeton. There's little doubt that White would probably have a greater appreciation for the 1973 classic now.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/252364265/Into-the-Woods-Fan-Reaction
I read that White called it "not good, but not as bad as I expected," acknowledging that it could have been a whole lot worse. This film was about as true to the book as a cartoon musical for kids could be.
shareI love this version...I just loved Paul Lynde as Templeton! A lot of memories and nostalgia thinking about this!
share