Summary

• Disney's happy endings shine in classic fairy tale adaptations like Cinderella and Rapunzel with joyful conclusions.
• Disney's 2014 release Into the Woods drew criticism from parents for its dark themes, including theft, infidelity, and character deaths.
• The movie features a twisted plot involving Disney princesses and iconic fairy tale characters with a bleak and grim ending.

By now, audiences have figured out that Disney’s versions of classic fairy tales have vastly outperformed their original Grimm counterparts. This is because the endings are much more joyous. In Cinderella, for instance, The Grand Duke and the princess get married soon after he finds out that the coveted glass slipper fits on her foot perfectly. In Rapunzel, the clever and independent heroine saves Flynn with her tears, and they, too, have a happily ever after. In Mickey Mouse’s adaptation of Jack and the Giant Beanstalk, he, Donald, and Goofy ultimately save Happy Valley (and rescue the Golden Harp) from the clutches of Willie The Giant. In addition, when Walt Disney created a 1922 version of Little Red Riding Hood, an unnamed aviator and Red kiss after he rescues her from a strange and mischievous man.

Besides these and the many more classical stories that the House of Mouse adapted, in which happy endings were rampant, there was actually a moment in time when Disney decided to return to the dark roots from which they came with Into the Woods – and they used a number of Disney princesses to tell the story. Oh, and they also threw infidelity, murder, kidnapping, and cutting off body parts into the mix.

Some Parents Weren't Happy With Into the Woods

Quotes such as “Not a healthy film for kids or anyone. Lessons lost in the woods on behalf of highlighting cruelty, despair and darkness”, “Super grim, horrible movie,” and “Not a kids' movie – everyone loses their mom!” all reside on the Common Sense Media website when it comes to Disney’s big screen adaptation of Into the Woods. This 2014 release was created by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine and is based on a 1987 musical of the same name that mixes the plots of several Brothers Grimm fairy tales.

While the reviews mentioned above may be a bit biased since they come from parents who want to protect their children, the musical fantasy film, which stars names like Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, and James Corden, certainly holds what many would consider a twisted and bleak ending (on top of many other aspects). But before we get to that, let’s look at the main story and how Disney princesses (and other iconic fairy tale characters) are involved.

Theft Is an Important Plot Point in Into the Woods

Into the Woods starts with the Baker and his wife (James Corden and Emily Blunt) having a content life with their home and occupation, except for the fact that they cannot have a baby. After Little Red Riding Hood borrows some treats from them for her grandmother, Streep’s Witch barges in and tells them that they cannot have a child because the Baker’s father stole vegetables from her garden long ago (and thus, in revenge, she placed a curse on them). She can lift the curse if they find a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, and a slipper as pure as gold. The couple retrieves these four items but, all the while, brings Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Cinderella into the mix.

The frantic rush of some happy-go-lucky songs (since this is a musical) in the first half of Into the Woods will bring a false sense of security to viewers. There is some mild tomfoolery in order to obtain the items (and an oddly creepy Big Bad Wolf sequence by Johnny Depp), but the grim motif of this movie creeps in more towards the latter half. Happily ever afters just don’t exist here. The woods take it all away.

The wish to have a baby brought about huge negative consequences that couldn’t be undone. Before that, though, Cinderella’s stepmother cuts the toes and heels off her daughter’s feet to fit into the glass slippers. . . and then crows come down and eat their eyes out, making them blind. How’s that for Disney?

Into the Woods Features Several Key Character Deaths

Besides those fun facts, a terrible fate awaits the Baker’s wife (and not a warranted one). After doing what she must to finally have a baby, she has a make-out session with the smug Prince Charming in the woods. After singing a song about the temptation she has just lost herself in, Blunt’s character trips carelessly once she sees a menacing giantess approaching and falls to her death – all in a span of five minutes. Seeing this sequence play out certainly evokes emotional whiplash that stays for the entire duration of the movie.

Jack’s mother, Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, the Witch, the two giants, and the Wolf all die in Into the Woods as well. There is no magical miracle that brings any of the protagonists back to life. They are all gone. While Rapunzel runs away with Prince Charming’s younger brother at the end of it all, a very quick conclusion before the credits show that a makeshift family forms from all the wreckage: Cinderella (after rejecting Prince Charming), Little Red Riding Hood and Jack will live with The Baker and his baby. After he heard about his wife’s death, he wasn’t even sure he could raise the baby until the ghost of his father brought his morale back up.

Into the Woods Is a Disturbing Adventure for Young Children

The Brothers Grimm influence is not the only creepy overtone this movie has to offer. Whether it was due to the budget or a creative choice by the director, the Giants are never seen from a clear view. Trees always obscure their tall, mighty figures, so the viewer’s only real perception of them comes from the deep, raspy voices that bellow onto the people below, continuously looking to kill Jack (and anybody who gets in their way).

What we do see of the giant’s facial features are hints of a strange, stretched-out version of a normal human’s face on a behemoth’s body (think of George Lopez’s Mr. Electric in Sharkboy and Lava Girl but without the helmet). For the most part, though, the audience only gets to see the consequences of the destruction they caused and who is ultimately harmed by it.

While the movie has themes and morals that are not intended for little children, the allure of featuring familiar Disney princesses definitely enticed an unintended and mixed crowd to watch this 2014 live-action musical fantasy with shocking results. There is no doubt that all the performances were on point. Even the story was refreshing. But having the adultery scene played off for laughs, and the pattern of mothers flat out meeting some grisly fate make Into The Woods a disturbing adventure. Into the Woods is streaming on Disney+.