There are many morals taught and learned over the course of "Into the Woods." Look at the world through others’ eyes. Let your children into the world. Stop giving Johnny Depp roles involving goofy hats. However, the ultimate overarching lesson is be careful what you wish for, a nifty twist on the typical wish-happy fairy tales.

As rumors and gossip spread in the lead-up to Disney’s adaptation of the much beloved musical, that message seemed to be one fans of the fairy tale mash-up would be sadly learning all too firsthand. The song "Any Moment" and the ensuing adultery-related plot turn were going to be cut! All of the adult themes and complicated ideas were getting Disney-fied out of existence! And did you see that awful wolf-fur zoot suit Johnny Depp is wearing?! Pour one out for "Into the Woods," everyone, because this adaptation is pretty much doomed.

After all of the panic, though, it appears all of those concerned rumors were no more than exactly that: concerned rumors (except for Johnny Depp’s suit, which is very real and very unfortunate). And now that the movie is actually out, the final product has revealed itself to be pretty good, delivering an entertaining and thoughtful trampling through fairy tale lore.

The story of "Into the Woods" dangerously resembles fairy tale fan fiction, a kind of Super Smash Bros.-esque violent slurry of classic characters with the treacherous woods serving as their battle stage (to make an even nerdier reference, consider the characters particles and the woods their Large Hadron Collider).

There’s Little Red Riding Hood (big screen newcomer Lilla Crawford) heading off with basket of tasty baked goods – or at least starting with a basket of tasty baked goods – to visit her granny. There’s Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), the magical maiden who desires to go to the prince’s ball despite her cruel stepmother and stepsisters. There’s little Jack (Daniel Huttlestone, Gavroche in 2012’s "Les Miserables"), being forced to trek into town to sell his beloved cow for beans. And there’s Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy), locked up in a tower with her golden locks of endless hair.

Tying all these disparate characters together are the town’s Baker (Craig Ferguson’s "Late Late Show" replacement James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt), who – thanks to his deadbeat dad – are tragically cursed to be barren by the volatile, veggie-loving witch next door (Meryl Streep), who also happens to be Rapunzel’s overly protective adoptive mother. She offers them one last chance for a child: a scavenger hunt requiring golden hair, a red cloak, a white cow and a golden slipper – all of which happen to be flitting, scampering and singing through the woods as they speak.

As crowded as the proceedings can become, there’s something inherently entertaining about bouncing these classic characters off one another and throwing them down crazy – and often dark – new paths, something "Into the Woods" does with aplomb. Cinderella, for instance, now takes three separate days to decide if the prince (Chris Pine, a pompous blast) is really what she wants. Then there’s the production’s notorious final third, which lingers beyond "happily ever after" to see how little their wishes have actually satisfied them and how much chaos they’ve created in the process.  

It’s amusing and surprisingly chaos, made all the better by the performers involved. Streep is having a great time acting and singing the hell out of the not-quite-that-wicked witch. She’s big snarling fun, routinely coming out of a smokey poof to pester the Baker and his wife. When she’s with Rapunzel, however, her performance becomes something really quite moving, her protective parental affection touchingly fragile and thunderously fierce. It’s one of the better, more moving performances from this late phase of Streep’s career, a turn both bombastically large and tenderly human.

Blunt continues her strong 2014 with her effortlessly charming and funny turn here, amusingly reacting to the fantastical characters running around her. Corden plays exasperated and overwhelmed well, while Kendrick is her typically delightful pert and perky self as the conflicted Cinderella. Crawford and Huttlestone have just the right amount of precociousness.

Then there’s Pine, hilariously oozing machismo and channeling his most amusing Gaston impression as the prince. His duet of "Agony" alongside Rapunzel’s prince is easily the film’s crown jewel, the chest-beating duo competing with one another to put as much man into the word "lament" as possible.

It helps that they have Sondheim’s beloved score to work with, packed with the composer’s usual brand of off meter rhythms, unpredictable arrangements and intricately wound lyrics. His songs never travel where you expect them to go – including how emotional and touching they can get, with characters singing about losing loved ones and the complicated gray between good and bad.

For all of the early harrumphing about Disney’s adaptation, James Lapine’s screenplay hews mostly close to the source material with some expected tinkering. Some songs are trimmed or cut. The narrator character has been simplified and morphed into some quick voiceover, and while one major character still gets the ax, another lives to see the end credits.

However, the adaptation’s loyalty means the original show’s problems get to stay as well. The final act is an infamously jarring dark tonal turn, one that’s no differently so here. Meanwhile, director Rob Marshall ("Chicago") struggles to find an even flow and pace to all of the cluttered, contorted plot movement. The film jumps from scene to scene with little sense of rhythm, making the fairy tale free-for-all feel even more busy and manic. Oddly, Marshall struggles with the visual aesthetics as well, landing on a look that’s glum, drab and deprived of magic – both fantastical and cinematic.

Finally, as hinted earlier, Johnny Depp's Big Bad Wolf segment just … doesn’t work. It’s already a tricky, twisted number, a leering tune that turns up the tale’s pedophilic and sexual undertones to 11. That’s fine; that fits. What doesn’t fit is anything else: Depp in his pedo-gangster fur suit and pimp hat that’s unsure if he’s a wolf or just a guy; his adequate singing; their rendezvous’s early placement in the story; Little Red’s trippy recollection of being in the Wolf’s guts – told via some cheap-looking CG, empty sets and puppetry. The Wolf thankfully only lasts about 10 minutes, but only the most dedicated Depp fanatics will be sad to see him go.

Still, this review ends with a "happily ever after" for "Into the Woods." Like with most fairy tales, the good – the performances and the music, whether they’re big and small, dramatic and funny – wins out over the bad in the end.