Red Riding Hood
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Gary Oldman, Max Irons,
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Rating: 2/5
We haven't seen Catherine Hardwicke in the director's chair since she brought the Twilight Saga to life back in 2008.
Three years later and she is back with Red Riding Hood, a new take on an old and popular tale.
Valerie (Seyfried) is promised in marriage to one man but in love with another. Her troubles intensify when the local werewolf rejects its monthly animal sacrifice and kills Valerie’s older sister.
When a werewolf hunter, played by Gary Oldman (the Harry Potter series), tells the villagers that the werewolf is disguised among the villages in human form, Valerie discovers she has a unique connection to it. Their connection inexorably draws them together, making her both suspect...and bait!
With this movie Hardwicke had the chance to deliver a real dark gothic horror style movie - instead we get the melodramatic tale of a young girl who is caught between two blokes... oh yeah and there is a wolf in town.
Why we have to have yet another sappy love triangle in a movie such as this is beyond me, does this love triangle bring anything to the actual story... no!!
It really is a cross between Twilight and The Village it lacks any menace, any danger and is no where near as gripping a watch as it could be.
Amanda Seyfried does well with what she is given, which really isn't that much while newcomer Shiloh Fernandez is just there to look mean and moody.
And as for Gary Oldman you really do have to wonder why an actor of his caliber took on a role such as this - bizarre!
There relationship has no real chemistry, which is sad, and you just never really believe in it - or care enough for that matter.
The idea of taking a child's fairy story and giving it an adult spin is a great idea in theory but Red Riding Hood is neither sexy nor scary and is a real disappointment.
Sure parts of the movie look good but that is not enough to hold you attention for 2 hour running time and by the time you find out who the wolf is you won't even care!
Red Riding Hood is out on DVD & Blu-Ray now
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw