Review of Red Riding Hood (2011) by Edward B — 23 Dec 2011

I don't think anyone had any expectations for Red Riding Hood, so I wouldn't consider it as disappointing as say Cowboys and Aliens, but it's still awful and puts director Catherine Hardwicke firmly on the path to becoming the female Stephen Sommers.

Essentially, Red Riding Hood is a desperate attempt to update a fairy tale. And by update I mean the main character is a young, hot teenager involved in a love triangle between her and two equally attractive guys, and a werewolf who is given the Twilight treatment. And just to give this movie some credibility, they convinced Gary Oldman to take the paycheck (like who would refuse money) and play a werewolf hunter who is actually a crazy fanatic Christian.

Whoever wrote this screenplay also ran into a problem in not having enough material to expand this short fairy tale into a feature film, so instead, almost half this movie becomes a witch trial and chase as Amanda Seyfried's protagonist is accused of being a witch. So amongst the horrible dialogue and clumsy plotting....

I'm just going to stop. The acting is awful, aside from Gary Oldman. Nobody recites their lines with any real understanding of what the scene's about. Of course, the dialogue is cliche and awkward, but it all lays down on the director. The sets look like a cheap music video, there are no scares, poor editing, a goth rock soundtrack that makes the film all that more awful. I'm rambling. As you can see, one of the worst films of 2011. Think of how many starving children could have been fed with the money wasted on producing this garbage. Life is cruel and unfair that way.