Fans of Stephen Sondheim's beloved musical have nothing to fear from this finely tuned and beautifully rendered cinematic version. The set will draw you in; the music, as expected, will leave you at once melancholy and thoughtful; and the acting will surprise and please. The weakest link, if he can be called that, is actually Depp, who could have benefited from a touch of understatement. But almost everyone else is a delight: Streep, especially -- despite having been in scores of memorable movies for decades -- reminds us that she has the power to morph into something we've yet to see. She amazes. And Pine proves he has a gift for comedy in the hilarious song "Agony."

But best of all is Sondheim's music: It's complicated and compelling. This is no run-of-the-mill children's musical. Though it may sport a stylized (and gorgeously rendered) set, the music grounds Into the Woods in a truly human -- and humane -- scale. Musicals don't often teach nuanced life lessons. But if, as one song goes, "children will listen," they'll hear plenty of words to guide them here.