You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

Full disclosure. I’ve never been the biggest fan of the Into the Woods musical. I never saw it on stage and it took several listenings of the cast recording before it became something I genuinely *wanted* to listen to. It grew on me over time, and while I like the ideas in the story and like several of the songs (“Agony”, “Giants in the Sky”, “No One Is Alone”), there are still songs that are so hokey to me that I cringe (notably the theme song and “It Takes Two” - I actually really dig what’s happening with the characters in the latter, but the song sounds like the theme to a 1980s sitcom … or Too Many Cooks).

So it’s not a sacred cow for me. Inasmuch as anything *is* a sacred cow.

That said, I loved this movie. People have complained about the pacing, and I can’t help laughing at people who complain about this movie’s structure and yet think Boyhood is the greatest thing ever. But despite Rob Marshall’s attempts to turn a two-act stage production into a three-act movie, he … doesn’t really. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. It’s not quite the perfection of Chicago, but it’s not an utter gutting like Nine was. Nor is it a very expensive music video like Les Miserables was.

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Loved it and can’t wait to see it again.