Red Riding Hood, 2011

Red Riding Hood, 2011
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Lukas Haas, Gary Oldman



Stage: Home theatre


Hood in short: Valerie (Seyfried) is a beautiful young woman torn between two men. She is in love with a brooding outsider, Peter (Fernandez), but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry (Irons). Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter are planning to run away together when they learn that Valerie's older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. For years, the people have maintained an uneasy truce with the beast, offering the creature a monthly animal sacrifice. But under a blood red moon, the wolf has upped the stakes by taking a human life. Hungry for revenge, the people call on famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon (Oldman), to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon's arrival brings unintended consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. As the death toll rises with each moon...


Preps: Hm.. some recommendations from my friends. Juvenile audience pouring from the cinemas. A hot thing a while ago, and me curious about everything.



Reality: Yuk. Mix a fairy tale with some dillusion of Beowulf, Robin Hood, King Arthur.. well, you end up with Red Riding Hood. I hadn't had any perticular picture in my head what this movie was supposed to be like, but I for sure didn't have this in mind. The story is weak, the effects are poor, the music and the scenery are high-school-ish.. sometimes when you mix that many famous movies ever made and put them together, the song just doesn't have a tone, rhyme, doesn't fit. In this case, in my opinion, a strong failure.

It is not until the very last scenes that the Red Riding Hood is given the stash with goodies for the grandmother. And even there, they cannot follow the original fairy tale. Maybe quite naive, but I wanted to see the film version of the fairy tale. Why bother to take the original title, if you are going to do something completely different? The link between her childhood and present seems lacking in confidence and competence - it doesn't link at all. Furthermore, the love triangle is vague and minimized, although the director obviously wanted it to run the complete show.

No recommendation whatsoever. Rather see the other mentioned movies, from where this weird mix of scenes derives. They are much better.

My personal rate: 1,0 (erase it, don't waste your time. Honestly!)

Hood on IMDB