Red Riding Hood (2011)
Brief review: "Twilight" director, Catherine Hardwicke, brings this lackluster fantasy interpretation of the world famous folk tale, and although it's far from terrible, "Red Riding Hood" fails to deliver, due to its cliche-ridden script and sub-par execution. With the exception of the ridiculously fake-looking wood scenery in the opening sequence, the movies offers some stylish and oddly interesting production design, a couple of darkly beautiful shots, and murky cinematography that suits the mood of the film, however, Hardwicke's dull and unimaginative direction fails to recreate the visual atmosphere of the story properly. The special effects are cheesy at best - the werewolf itself looks ludicrously lame and not frightening at all, and the action scenes are very few and rather unexciting. Amanda Seyfried is as stunning and charismatic as usual, and she does a good job with the given material. Fernandez gives a stiff and absolutely lifeless performance, and so does Irons, though he's somewhat more appealing. Julie Christie delivers the second-best performance in the movie, while Billy Burke does just okay. Gary Oldman is surprisingly unengaging, and Virginia Madsen is, well, miscast - her look is just too current for this film.
Overall summary: Visually-atmospheric, yet utterly dull, totally lacking in thrills, scares and suspense, and filled with countless tired cliches, "Red Riding Hood" is exactly as poor as its box office results suggest, and arguably Catherine Hardwicke's weakest effort so far.
8 comments:
after reading what Melissa write too and now you George, I don't even think I will bother, it sounds too much of a bore fest to me, and it was one I was reading looking forward too :(
Hardwicke is an unimaginative director ever since she directed Twilight. I tried watching it and could not get past the awful acting. Love this review and I agree for the most part, but really, everyone looked too current for the film. Fernandez had a faux hawk, Grandmother had dreadlocks and Irons had enough gel in his hair to rival Robert Pattinson. Seyfried's locks were not exactly medieval either. She had highlights. Perhaps Grandmother was concocting hair products out in her condo, er cabin.:)
Great review! It is completely accurate. I had higher hopes for this one and it's sad it was such a disappointment. Thank goodness for Amanda Seyfried! I don't think I would have liked it at all if it wasn't for her. The wolf... HA! Oh my goodness, I still can't believe how stupid that thing was. haha!
Have a great weekend dear!!
Yeah, Demps, don't bother anymore. It was so dull, it makes the first "Twilight" film look like a masterpiece :) I was looking forward to it as well, but Mrs. Hardwicke totally killed my enthusiasm.
Mel, I absolutely agree about Hardwicke and her questionable directing skills, but if I have to be honest, I thought her "Twilight" installment was the most watchable out of all three.
Yeah, the cast looked so current it was ridiculous. Loved granny's look though.. and she's a stunning looking woman, despite her age.
"Irons had enough gel in his hair to rival Robert Pattinson.". LMAO! That line was so hilarious, honest and spot-on.. i loved it! :)
Thanks, Nicole! :) Glad you agree with me on this one. Yes, what the heck was Hardwicke thinking? She's better take some lessons before her next movie. The werewolf was hilarious! I thought the wolf they killed in the beginning was more scarier. LOL :)
Great review, definitely not seeing the movie now :)
Sad to hear that Gary Oldman isn't great in this, I fucking LOVE him.
cokesyrup, thanks, glad you liked my review. I love Oldman, too, but he seemed a bit out-of-place in this one.
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