Name : Colin Covert / Alias : Minneapolis Star Tribune
"Into the Woods" is a paean to the primal magic of storytelling.

Name : Michael Phillips / Alias : Chicago Tribune
For years, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim's 1987 fairy tale mashup, written with librettist James Lapine, has hacked its way through the thicket of Hollywood development. And the movie now before us? Here's a relief: It's good.

Name : Betsy Sharkey / Alias : Los Angeles Times
What makes "Into the Woods" so entertaining is the cleverness of the tale itself and the way specific characters match the talents of its storytellers.

Name : Claudia Puig / Alias : USA Today
With its ominous gnarled trees and enchanted look, Into the Woods is a place worth exploring.

Name : Mick LaSalle / Alias : San Francisco Chronicle
With archness and irony, "Into the Woods" goes deeper into the fairy stories, allowing us to see familiar archetypes in new and not so flattering ways.

Name : James Berardinelli / Alias : ReelViews
Into the Woods left me out in the cold.

Name : Elizabeth Weitzman / Alias : New York Daily News
The life lessons are delivered with insight and heart, the rightfully beloved music is well handled and the cast is so enthusiastic that we can excuse some rough patches.

Name : Lindsey Bahr / Alias : Associated Press
It's hard not to get swept up in the grand production of it all.

Name : Karen D'Souza / Alias : San Jose Mercury News
This movie always seems to distance itself from that existential truth that was at the core of Sondheim's original.

Name : Jesse Hassenger / Alias : AV Club
Even if this Into The Woods lacks the exhilaration of the best movie musicals, it does capture the show's emotional intimacy - no small task in a field that favors razzle dazzle.

Name : Joe Williams / Alias : St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Into the Woods" could have taken a well-worn path toward stagey sentiments, but those who worried that Hollywood might drain the enchantment from the Enchanted Forest can live happily after.

Name : Richard Roeper / Alias : Richard Roeper.com
Rumbles on for too long and has some dry patches here and there-but just when we're growing fidgety, we get another rousing musical number or another dark plot twist, and we're back in business.

Name : Lou Lumenick / Alias : New York Post
"Into the Woods'' thankfully retains most of its wit and bite, and showcases two of the year's very best female performances, from Streep and Blunt.

Name : Alonso Duralde / Alias : TheWrap
The stage musical delightfully reminded audiences that while happy endings are possible, you should always be careful about what you've wished for. Now comes the movie version, and it's a singing and dancing manifestation of both of those ideas.

Name : Dana Stevens / Alias : Slate
Instead of being a rueful meditation on the inevitable disappointments of adulthood, the last act plays out as a generic dystopian bummer.

Name : Peter Travers / Alias : Rolling Stone
Yes, the sets and costumes elicit swoons, but it's the peerless Sondheim score, however truncated, that makes this Woods a prime destination.

Name : Scott Foundas / Alias : Variety
If so much as one tween viewer adds Sondheim to his or her iPod playlist alongside the likes of "Let it Go," all will have been worthwhile.

Name : Stephen Whitty / Alias : Newark Star-Ledger
Rob Marshall - who previously shepherded a glossy if slightly diluted version of "Chicago" to the screen - does a decent job transferring the material.

Name : Stephen Holden / Alias : New York Times
"Into the Woods," the splendid Disney screen adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical, infuses new vitality into the tired marketing concept of entertainment for "children of all ages."

Name : Wesley Morris / Alias : Grantland
The movie is a watchable, tuneful contraption.

Name : Ty Burr / Alias : Boston Globe
Marshall's film captures enough of the emotions that course through this sneaky fairy tale about childish things like love, sex, grief, insecurity, abandonment, and forbearance.

Name : Preston Jones / Alias : Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
The sly send-up of fantasy tropes and healthy doses of humor help Into the Woods feel very much like the books and films it gently satirizes, even as it stands on its own as a solid entry into the musical-fantasy genre.

Name : Brad Wheeler / Alias : Globe and Mail
What is celebrated is the art of storytelling and the bedazzling attraction of a killer cast, uninhibited acting, giddy escapism, attractive visuals and an extroverted score.

Name : Rafer Guzman / Alias : Newsday
A capable cast and some very fine songs, but parents should take note of the dark themes. This Disney movie ain't kid stuff.

Name : Cath Clarke / Alias : Time Out
If you go down to the woods today. you'll find A-listers dressed like 'Game of Thrones' extras belting out showtunes.

Name : Alan Scherstuhl / Alias : Village Voice
Director Rob Marshall simply cuts from one tale to the next, isolating his actors. There's little sense that the fairytale space is a shared one - it's just a bunch of noisy incident transpiring in unrelated treestands.

Name : Nancy Churnin / Alias : Dallas Morning News
As with Chicago, Marshall makes bold choices, but they pay off. His cast may glitter with film stars, but they work as an ensemble and keep their stories emotionally true against a terrifically rich orchestral accompaniment.

Name : David Edelstein / Alias : New York Magazine/Vulture
Corden is a wonderfully funny, self-effacing bloke - I'm thrilled at the prospect of seeing him nightly, hosting his own show after Colbert. Maybe he'll have Emily Blunt as a guest. It's her movie.

Name : Bill Goodykoontz / Alias : Arizona Republic
The cast is top-notch, the story is satisfyingly dark, the performances are fun and, of course, the songs are terrific.

Name : Rex Reed / Alias : New York Observer
I left disenchanted and irritated by so many missed opportunities.

Name : Peter Rainer / Alias : Christian Science Monitor
The Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine 1987 musical Into the Woods has been transferred to the screen by director Rob Marshall with most of its complexities and light-dark tonalities intact.

Name : Christine Dolen / Alias : Miami Herald
For anyone who can appreciate the darker side of fairy-tales told in a musical with depth and nuance, Into the Woods is a journey worth taking.

Name : Moira MacDonald / Alias : Seattle Times
Does it work as a movie? Thanks to a few cast members, the answer is - yes, and for the most part quite nicely.

Name : Stephanie Merry / Alias : Washington Post
Some of the musical's superfans will feel shortchanged by the movie no matter what, but you have to give credit where it's due. The adaptation is pretty faithful to the original - for better and worse.

Name : Linda Barnard / Alias : Toronto Star
A mixed bag of clever twists on familiar storybook myths, engaging performances and forgettable songs.

Name : Ben Sachs / Alias : Chicago Reader
With the exception of Meryl Streep (as the Witch) and James Corden (as the Baker), the cast is bland, and the bombastic orchestrations tend to steamroll the nuances of Sondheim's score.

Name : Chris Nashawaty / Alias : Entertainment Weekly
The first two-thirds of the film, which are like the Brothers Grimm's Greatest Hits on laughing gas, have a fizzy, fairy-dust energy.

Name : David Rooney / Alias : Hollywood Reporter
This twisty fairy-tale mash-up shows an appreciation for the virtues of old-fashioned storytelling, along with a welcome dash of subversive wit.

Name : Steven Rea / Alias : Philadelphia Inquirer
A jolly mash-up of symbol-laden, signature once-upon-a-time tales about lust, envy, greed, and misguided pursuits of happiness.