When the story's consequences are just a little less dire and the darkness of the woods just a little less threatening, the hard-won redemption at story's end doesn't seem nearly as sweet.

... somewhere along each character's traipse through the foreboding forest, the story just loses its way.

It's not, in any easily describable way at least, a terrible movie. It's just a woefully forgettable one, staged with all the depth and flair of a halfhearted community theater production.

Such is the nature of the musical. You're either in it or you aren't. It's just not my cup of tea.