Red Riding Hood

RED RIDING HOOD

REVIEW

This movie is publicized as a gothic retelling of the classic faerie tale.  I suppose, at its most basic, it is.  There's a girl, and a (were)wolf, and a woodcutter, and a red cape.  That's about as far as the connection goes.  It attempts to reach a dark beauty in its telling...and it succeeds, so long as you don't listen to any of the actors, or pay any attention whatsoever to the storyline.  The beauty comes in the saturated colors and drama of the visuals (although the striking beauty of the sweeping red cloak against a backdrop of pristine snow is a bit overutilized by the end of the movie).  It is a visually stunning movie, but the rest of the elements are sadly (and blatantly) lacking. 
     As for the werewolf special effects......well, suffice it to say that I never thought I'd miss Twilight's wolves. It looked damp and scrawny. You'd have thought that a wolf as powerful as this one would at least feed itself well.  But no, it looked like it was starving and cranky as opposed to powerful and menacing.  The wolf's desire for Red is just as off-setting.  I know it is meant to be frightening, but in the end it just comes across as....uncomfortable.
     Gary Oldman did a serviceable job as the wolf-hunting holy man who is called in to battle the fearsome were, but he was given a rather flat character who was supremely frustrating to me.  Even his "loyal" men seemed pretty fed up and annoyed at him almost immediately.
     As for the love triangle,  it felt a tad too forced.  I did like that neither of the men...sorry, boys... interested in Red were horrible or abusive, but the fact that they were both at least decent human beings didn't make them anything more than pretty.  Amanda Seyfried was just as vanilla.  Yay.  She likes you. Whoopededoo.  The situation tries to be noble and altruistic, with both of the men...sorry, boys...at times giving her up, and then (bafflingly enough) becoming interested in her again, but it lacks any depth that would make their repetitive sacrifices on behalf of Ms Vanilla anything more than wishy-washy.
    
    
FOR THE MOMS:
"Red Riding Hood" is a fun film with limited depth. It really just is eye candy.  The wolf is large and would be rather frightening for younger children, and there are several scenes of people being tortured, killed, and maimed, though in general without being overly graphic. 

While there is no language or nudity in the movie, there is one scene with a  pretty hot and heavy makeout scene between Red and one of her suitors, complete with her legs in the air and his hand up her skirt as well as a little bodice-untying (though her undershirt, thankfully, stays in place).  Aside from this single scene, the rest of the film is firmly rooted in longing glances and stolen smooches.

Boys would most likely be very into the wolf, since it is big and bad and made out of CGI, which is what little boys these days are made of,  but would have very little interest in either the storyline, or any of the characters.

Girls would most likely enjoy the beauty of the film, as well as the romance of the love triangle.  I would definitely say that girls would enjoy this film more than boys, and aside from the hot-and-heavy check-out-her-stockin's scene, it is pretty safe (just send her out for a popcorn refill when they head for the hay) so long as badly designed CGI wolves don't bother them.


2 stars out of 5
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