All of a sudden, fairy tale re-imaginings are the 'in' thing again. Right on the heels of Beauty and the Beast update 'Beastly' is now the retelling of the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood.
Titled just 'Red Riding Hood', the makers omitted the word 'little' as she is obviously pretty grown up. But hey, I ain't complaining as Amanda Seyfried's really gorgeous as Valerie, a young woman who's torn between two loves. Ah, that sounds kinda familiar... isn't that the synopsis for Twilight? The comparisons are inevitable as the movie is directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the original Twilight film. But we'll get back to that later.
You see, Valerie is engaged and arranged to be married to village blacksmith Henry (Max Irons), a wealthy bloke with looks to match.
But sadly for him, his fiance is in love with Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), a dashing woodcutter she knew all her life.
Fortunately a love story isn't all about this flick. On the bigger scale of things, their village is cursed by visits of a terrifying werewolf who demands a monthly livestock sacrifice in exchange for no bloodshed. But when this truce is broken during the blood moon with the killing of Valerie's sister, the villagers want revenge. They call upon famed werewolf hunter Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), to assist with getting rid of this menace.
However, impatient for revenge, the villagers set out to kill the wolf themselves, bringing its head back for display. Later upon his arrival, Solomon reveals that the wolf they killed was nothing but a regular wolf, and the werewolf was still at large, and worse, living among them. So who really was the wolf? And it seems the wolf himself also has some sort of liking for Valerie, wanting her to come with him. So we have a scenario of 2 Dudes, a Girl and a Wolf going on here.
Firstly, the comparisons to Twilight are clear, especially the love triangle and corny
'Thy gaze upon thee for eternity' scenes. However, the plus points were also carried over; sweeping forest shots, dreamy scenes... if there was one thing that really stood out, it was the cinematography, which was just artistically beautiful. Hardwicke certainly has the upper hand when it comes to capturing love moments. Effects-wise, a pretty good job was done on the CG wolf itself, which appeared realistic and fearsome, like how a monster werewolf should. Think Jacob Black on steroids. And more growling. And he even does something Jacob couldn't, but that would be a spoiler. Acting-wise, Seyfried held her own as the titular character, using her wonderfully expressive eyes to fill up parts where no words were used.
Needless to say Oldman was his usual brilliant self, despite the rather limited script he had to work with. Too bad the same couldn't be said about the two lead males, who seem to be there more for looks than acting. In fact some of their banter reminded me of those between Edward and Jacob.
And Valerie's Grandma was downright disturbing.
When it came to the movie's story however, things turned out pretty average. The plot was heavily cliched one, cloaked with a 'Red Riding Hood' theme. While there were a number of interesting parts which linked the story to the famed fairy tale, but most feel out of place and downright corny. There were also a number of loopholes and many questions remain even after the credits roll. Like why couldn't the village friggin' hire Father Solomon in the first place?
Setbacks aside, Red Riding Hood, like many fairy tale re-tellings, still makes for a decent watch. The way the film was shot was certainly the highlight, with scene gems like Valerie walking through the snow with an endlessly long red robe flowing behind her. Also watch out for scenes that relate to the fairy tale.
Those craving werewolf action might get a healthy dose from the bloodthirsty big bad wolf, while young ones should get a kick out of the triangle of pretty lovesick people. Now if only Hardwicke could make out which direction her movie was to take...
2 1/2 Stars
