Spirited performances from an all-star cast and Rob Marshall’s deft handling of all things musical makes Into the Woods a fun watch, yet the giant problem of pacing and questionable moral centre stops it from becoming a classic of the genre.

A musical is not an easy thing to pull off on the big screen, especially when adapted from its natural element of the stage. Into the Woods is as difficult a task as they come.

The acclaimed stage production written by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine that this film is based on is something of fairy-tale smorgasbord, with characters plucked from the world of The Brothers Grimm and thrown together into an acclaimed, off-beat musical that won adulation and box-office success everywhere it was staged.

Only makes sense that Disney tapped “Mr. Modern Musical” Rob Marshall to take on the ginormous task of bringing this multi-Tony award winning hit to the big screen. Marshall did a great job with film adaptations of Chicago and Nine (underrated), and for the most part delivers with Into the Woods.

With so many characters and sub-plots featured, Marshall gets the ball rolling with an opening ditty that introduces all of its iconic characters and there dilemmas. There is downtrodden Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) who wants to go to the big ball; Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) who on her way to visit her grandmother is pursued by a hungry Big Bad Wolf (Johnny Depp); young Jack (Daniel Huttlestone) who gets in strife when he sells the family cow for two beans; and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy) who is shut away in the tower in the middle of the woods.

Linking all of them are a Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt), a childless couple who are giving the choice by a Witch (Meryl Streep) to lift a curse placed upon their house, if they gather specific objects from the famous Brother Grimm creations mentioned above and return them to the Witch, quick smart.

And with that the hunt is on, as Marshall delivers a rather good balancing act between the multitude of characters at play, and also with the transitions into song that are done in a fun, smooth manner. That is until the film quickly dissolves into a weird allegory about how “happily ever after” isn’t what it’s cracked out to be, which is fitting since the final act of Into the Woods is as weird and macabre a 180 turn as they come.

While a tinkering with the classic fairy-tale formula is welcome if done right, Into the Woods loses much of its charm and likability the longer it plays, with an especially strange attitude towards life, death and love that irks with every odd, morally troublesome decision these characters make. Regardless of whether the jarring irrationality of its last act worked on the stage or not, there is no doubt that in Marshall’s hands it brings down the quality of what could have been a great film.

What holds up through it all are the performances. Meryl Streep (in all of her annoying brilliance) delivers in the key role of the Witch, stretching her pipes further than in Mamma Mia while providing a terrifying, funny and fragile turn that will no doubt earn another Oscar nomination. Great too is Chris Pine in a scene stealing performance as a douchebag Prince influenced by too much Miami Vice and Walt Disney, Pine brilliantly hammy, funny, and impressive in vocal delivery.

The real star of Into the Woods however is Emily Blunt, who on top of singing up a storm and letting those comedic chops of hers go to town, also brings a lot of personality to a film that can feel cluttered by its many characters. Thankfully they are portrayed by a talented cast.