|
Red Riding Hood
| Released |
15 April 2011 |
| Director |
Catherine Hardwicke |
Starring
|
Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas, Julie Christie |
| Writer(s) |
David Leslie Johnson |
Producer(s)
|
Jennifer Davisson Killoran, Leonardo DiCaprio, Julie Yorn |
| Origin |
United States, Canada |
| Running Time |
100 minutes |
| Genre |
Fantasy, thriller |
| Rating |
12A |
|
|
A grim fairy tale.
After being unceremoniously dropped from the Twilight series just one film in, you would have thought that director Catherine Hardwicke would want to distance herself from the whole area of werewolves. What she was thinking when she decided to take on this limp adaptation of the classic fairytale is anyone’s guess; both literally and metaphorically, this Red Riding Hood is utterly bloodless. Even Tex Avery’s 1943 animated version of the character was nearer the knuckle.
The story takes place in the woodland village of Daggerhorn, which for years has been terrorised by a fearsome wolf. Our “Red” is local beauty Valerie (Amanda Seyfried), who has been betrothed to eligible bachelor Henry (Max Irons) despite preferring the company of the brooding Peter (Shiloh Fernandez). This love triangle is a red herring that resolves itself without much drama; instead, the focus turns to the paranoia that takes root in the village upon the arrival of wolf hunter Father Solomon (a somewhat restrained Gary Oldman). He barricades the exits to the village and declares that the wolf picking them off one by one is actually a werewolf; and it could be any one of them. So the story becomes a supernatural take on The Crucible as neighbours turn on neighbours in a witch/wolf hunt.
This may be a new direction in which to take the fable but unfortunately it’s not a particularly interesting one. As suspicion is thrown back and forth upon different characters, there is no time to raise the tension. Seyfried herself, all flowing blonde locks and implausibly wide eyes may look great in the cape but she is an uncharismatic and passive heroine. Visually too the film is deeply uninteresting. For the town of Daggerhorn, Hardwicke has gone for a florid fairytale village look- wood cabins, stained-glass windows and snow. Unfortunately it all ends up looking like a theme park installation. Most unforgivable is the fact that in the quest for a PG rating, the werewolf isn’t even allowed to shed any blood.
This is all a great pity; the story of Red Riding Hood has great potential for updating, if only Hardwicke had approached it with the rawness of her debut feature Thirteen. Instead this is an uninspired fantasy strictly for young teens; a forgettable hangover from the Twilight phenomenon.
-
Linda O’Brien |
