I'm sorry. I really do want to like Catherine Hardwicke's ("Twilight") version of "Red Riding Hood". It has some beautiful shots of the mountains and forests, right from the beginning of the movie. The "big names", Gary Oldman as the wolf-slaying Father Solomon and Julie Christie as Grandmother, did fine jobs in their roles. Even Amanda Seyfried was somewhat impressive as Valerie, the young lady who wears the red hood.
But that's about all the movie has going for it.
The movie is set in a medieval mountain village that, for the past few decades, has had an uneasy truce with a werewolf (don't bother looking for an explanation of how they reached that truce; it's not forthcoming). The villagers leave their best goat or pig or whatever tied to a post each full moon, and the wolf eats that rather than any of the people. But one day, Lucie, Valerie's sister, is mauled to death by the wolf, and the villagers vow vengeance.
Valerie, meanwhile, has been in love with Peter all her life and plans to run away with him before she is forced to marry Henry. The death of her sister, obviously, puts this plan on hold, giving Valerie's mother enough time to tell Valerie that she herself once had to give up the man she loved to marry the "sensible" choice. I have a feeling screenwriter David Johnson ("Orphan") would have preferred to leave at least that little bit of backstory out, as it's terribly cliché and feels nothing but rushed when discussed; but unfortunately, all of this is very necessary plot exposition, and not just so there will be a liberal sprinkling of red herrings during the second half of the movie.
When Father Solomon arrives in the village, he does his best to sow dissension amongst the villagers so as to make discovering who the werewolf is that much easier. The villagers are faced with the reality that the werewolf could be anyone, even someone they love. The mystery of the wolf's identity deepens when it shows itself to Valerie and speaks to her with its mind. This is where the movie started getting interesting again, for me. Werewolves aren't normally a spotlighted movie monster, despite the fact that the Big Bad Wolf is older than Dracula himself. It's great to see a mysterious and somewhat menacing wolf take center stage.
When Valerie is accused of being a witch and set out as bait for the wolf, certain villagers must decide how much to risk to save her. And that's where the movie loses me again. Peter and Henry, played by relative newcomers Shiloh Fernandez and Max Irons, have a somewhat aborted rivalry as the two young men who both want to marry Valerie. Their particular subplot fizzles, especially when they both promise to cut the other's head off if one of them turns out to be the wolf. As a love triangle, it's not even a contest. We're shown, from the beginning, that Valerie has eyes only for Peter. Henry even sees them making out (to put it mildly) and stoically promises Valerie that he won't force her to marry him. Thus ends a plot thread that really didn't have anywhere to go, but that, again, couldn't be cut because of how it tied into the wider plot of the movie.
Valerie has a separate moment with both characters (and with several others) trying to decide if they're the wolf that spoke to her. There's enough red herring in this film to make even the hungriest wolf swear off fish forever. Is it the village priest, played by "Inception"s Lukas Haas? Is it one of the jealous village girls who secretly resent the fact that she's better than them at everything? Is it *gasp* a member of her own family? I assure you, by the time you find out, you'll no longer be engaged enough with the movie to be surprised (if the wolf's identity surprises you at all). It's not that the movie drags on; at just over an hour and a half, it could hardly do that. It's just not interesting enough. The potential was there; the potential for mystery, adventure, action, romance, and even horror. The movie just never reaches far enough into any of those categories. With the few exceptions that I mentioned at the beginning of the article, the acting is nothing to be proud of; the dialogue is misplaced, at best (as are the haircuts); and the ending can hardly be said to "pay out". It's a fair take on one of the world's oldest fairy tales; but as seriously as the movie takes itself, it should have been a little more serious.
(Originally appeared at http://fourthdayuniverse.com/reports)
But that's about all the movie has going for it.
The movie is set in a medieval mountain village that, for the past few decades, has had an uneasy truce with a werewolf (don't bother looking for an explanation of how they reached that truce; it's not forthcoming). The villagers leave their best goat or pig or whatever tied to a post each full moon, and the wolf eats that rather than any of the people. But one day, Lucie, Valerie's sister, is mauled to death by the wolf, and the villagers vow vengeance.
Valerie, meanwhile, has been in love with Peter all her life and plans to run away with him before she is forced to marry Henry. The death of her sister, obviously, puts this plan on hold, giving Valerie's mother enough time to tell Valerie that she herself once had to give up the man she loved to marry the "sensible" choice. I have a feeling screenwriter David Johnson ("Orphan") would have preferred to leave at least that little bit of backstory out, as it's terribly cliché and feels nothing but rushed when discussed; but unfortunately, all of this is very necessary plot exposition, and not just so there will be a liberal sprinkling of red herrings during the second half of the movie.
When Father Solomon arrives in the village, he does his best to sow dissension amongst the villagers so as to make discovering who the werewolf is that much easier. The villagers are faced with the reality that the werewolf could be anyone, even someone they love. The mystery of the wolf's identity deepens when it shows itself to Valerie and speaks to her with its mind. This is where the movie started getting interesting again, for me. Werewolves aren't normally a spotlighted movie monster, despite the fact that the Big Bad Wolf is older than Dracula himself. It's great to see a mysterious and somewhat menacing wolf take center stage.
When Valerie is accused of being a witch and set out as bait for the wolf, certain villagers must decide how much to risk to save her. And that's where the movie loses me again. Peter and Henry, played by relative newcomers Shiloh Fernandez and Max Irons, have a somewhat aborted rivalry as the two young men who both want to marry Valerie. Their particular subplot fizzles, especially when they both promise to cut the other's head off if one of them turns out to be the wolf. As a love triangle, it's not even a contest. We're shown, from the beginning, that Valerie has eyes only for Peter. Henry even sees them making out (to put it mildly) and stoically promises Valerie that he won't force her to marry him. Thus ends a plot thread that really didn't have anywhere to go, but that, again, couldn't be cut because of how it tied into the wider plot of the movie.
Valerie has a separate moment with both characters (and with several others) trying to decide if they're the wolf that spoke to her. There's enough red herring in this film to make even the hungriest wolf swear off fish forever. Is it the village priest, played by "Inception"s Lukas Haas? Is it one of the jealous village girls who secretly resent the fact that she's better than them at everything? Is it *gasp* a member of her own family? I assure you, by the time you find out, you'll no longer be engaged enough with the movie to be surprised (if the wolf's identity surprises you at all). It's not that the movie drags on; at just over an hour and a half, it could hardly do that. It's just not interesting enough. The potential was there; the potential for mystery, adventure, action, romance, and even horror. The movie just never reaches far enough into any of those categories. With the few exceptions that I mentioned at the beginning of the article, the acting is nothing to be proud of; the dialogue is misplaced, at best (as are the haircuts); and the ending can hardly be said to "pay out". It's a fair take on one of the world's oldest fairy tales; but as seriously as the movie takes itself, it should have been a little more serious.
(Originally appeared at http://fourthdayuniverse.com/reports)