Red Riding Hood

Rent it


I don't think a summary is necessary for this film as most of us grew up on this story.  It was a good retelling of the childhood story. It was not as suspenseful as I thought it would be, though there was a nice twist in the identity of the wolf. Just a content note; I don't recall any language but there is a, well I guess I can't say sex scene so make-out scene that felt a bit smutty. It just felt out of place.


We all know this movie is from the same director as Twilight. So if you liked Twilight will you like this movie? The short answer: Probably. It felt very similar with a little Van Helsing mixed it. In the case of both Twilight and Red Riding Hood, great cinematography does not equal a good film. In this case, the great camera angles did not contribute to the overall movie. There were really great shots but it felt like the combinations of great camera shots were driving the movie rather than the vision of the film being accentuated by the cinematography. It continually pulled me out of the movie. It felt disjointed. I wish that all aspects of the film were more cohesive.

The styling was also continually distracting. The young generation was fine. Not too much makeup and the costumes were appropriate. Valerie's (Red Riding Hood) mother looked like a bar maid. The curls of hair were too perfect, too much makeup and eyeliner, which was definitely not period. It completely distracted from the movie. Same for the grandmother. It felt to modern and distracted me every time I saw either of them. Especially since they were the only two in the film with modern stylizing.  The effects were pretty good. The werewolf was like a black, ratted version of the Twilight wolves, another obvious similarity.

Also like Twilight, this movie had a love triangle. I don't think it will result in Team Henry and Team Peter, but both guys were really good characters, and good looking too. It is so much easier to pick one guy over another when one is a jerk. It just doesn't seem far for one girl to get the hearts of the two best men in the village. Shiloh Fernandez was fairly unknown to me but did well as the smoldering young Peter, Valerie's main love interest. Max Irons, Henry, was also unknown to me. Henry was everything a girl could want in a man, and even let Valerie out of their arranged engagement because he could tell she was in love with Peter. He was so perfect I had a hard time justifying Valerie choosing Peter over him. Well except for the fact that she had been in love with Peter her whole life, but other than that Henry was prime husband material.

Amanda Seyfried was amazing. Of course, I was already a big fan of her. She was easily the biggest talent in the movie. She carried the story, definitely setting a wide gap in the parallel between this film and Twilight, as Twilight is seriously lacking in leading lady department. Gary Oldman was also good in this film, so good in fact that I hated his character and celebrated his death. Lukas Haas was a convincing young priest. I found him loving and charming. Billy Burke was a familiar Twilight  face(Charlie). He also did well in this film as the  loving father.

Did I enjoy the movie? Yes, but I wouldn't pay more than $5 to see it, even for more than one person. If you think the Twilight movies are worth the 15 plus dollars it costs to do a movie date night, then maybe you will think this movie is likewise worth it. But if you live on a budget, like most people, save it for a better movie and pick this one up at the Red Box. Hey it is only $1. Almost any movie is worth $1. . . Almost.