Red Riding Hood 2011 Review

Red Riding Hood is a fairy tale gone thriller. It opened in March of this year and attempted to retell the tale of the Red Riding Hood to adults. With Amanda Seyfried in the lead and a budget topping over $40 million, not a heck lot could go wrong, or so it seemed. Is this a great interpretation of the famous fairy tale? Or does it fall short, becoming one of the many highly anticipated downfalls this movie season, let's learn.
Story

Red Riding Hood is set in medieval times in a small village haunted by a werewolf. Meanwhile Valerie, a young girl played by Amanda Seyfried, falls in love with a "bad boy" called Peter. The problem being that her parents had set up an arranged marriage with higher-class Henry.

The first plot comes quickly when a new king attempts to tackle the threat by putting the town under siege during the red-moon season. From there the movie becomes an audience's guessing game, as they try to predict the killer in human form. This is done well by the director by offering plenty of leads and awkward/exciting moments. The writers weren't scared of making radical things happen, which helped the story progress.

The acting of Red Riding Hood is somewhat off at times. The romantic lines, for example, are so cringe worthy that it becomes even more far-fetched than the characters' state of mind. Nevertheless the main characters have delivered very decent performances, compensating for the few less-convincing lines in the movie.
Presentation

In the early days of HD releases, movies were very subject to noise generated in darker scenes. Luckily this is fixed because there're a lot of dark scenes in Red Riding Hood. The picture remains grain-free even during the darkest of times.

The overall level of detail is decent without excelling compared to other recent 1080p movies. The country wheat, during the fire scene, could've reflected more details to name an example.

The special effects (especially the werewolf) look amazing and are very convincing. He might be unnatural strong, even for a mythical creature, but has the visuals to match his killing character.

Red Riding Hood offers the next generation of sound, conveniently dubbed: Dolby digital true-HD or DTS-HD. Unfortunately I wasn't near a set that supports these formats, so I had to fall back on the traditional DTS format. In this mode the movie does well to suggest the werewolf's whereabouts. They used the 5 channels to great extend, accompanied with a satisfying movie score.
Conclusions

Red Riding Hood is a decent movie with a compelling story that leaves the audience guessing the entire 100-minutes through, helped by strong and brave writing for the most part. The image does well without blowing any senses out of the water, with the sound up there with the best. Taking everything in consideration leaves me with this: Watching Red Riding Hood is entertaining and time well spent, despite the minor issues here and there.

I'm Robin Chung. In my spare time I like to write articles and stories. My ultimate dream is to write a life altering story for a lot of readers. Feel free to visit my website and learn more!

Robin Chung

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Movie Review: Red Riding Hood (2011)

If the thought of theatrically adapting the famous fairy tale isn't enough to incite giggles, the recitation of the line "Grandmother, what big teeth you have" will certainly do the job. Little about the film doesn't warrant laughter; the revealing of the red cape, the repetitious jump-scares with the grandmother casting wolf shadows and other bits of details from the source material thrown in for those who forgot what the movie is based on, and the overwhelming feeling that this is a lesser known chapter from the Twilight Saga. All are reasons to dismiss this ridiculous fantasy. Even the dead bodies smirk. Director Catherine Hardwicke, who helmed the first Twilight movie, certainly isn't trying to hide her excessive fascination with werewolves, teenage relationships, love triangles and shirtless hunks.

For twenty years, the tiny, isolated, mountain village of Daggerhorn has kept the peace with a bloodthirsty werewolf by sacrificing the best livestock and the cutest pink piglets. Blonde-haired, red-cloaked Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) hasn't thought too much about it during her childhood, instead concentrating on keeping a secretive relationship with brown-eyed woodcutter Peter (Shiloh Fernandez). Thanks to an arranged marriage with wealthier blacksmith Henry (Max Irons), Valerie is doomed to break away from her true love.

When Valerie's sister is found slashed to death by the werewolf, a party of vengeful villagers goes in search of it. They kill a common gray wolf and believe they've dispatched the menace for good, but legendary monster killer Father Solomon (Gary Oldman) arrives just in time to prove them wrong. His is a deliciously evil role, an unhinged character that Oldman plays often and quite entertainingly, quick to persecute, invade privacy and harm without mercy. It's a Van Helsing of sorts, fused with the maniacal methods of a preacher intent on forcing others to don his beliefs via physical violence, complete with wild-eyed horror stories and a giant metal elephant of torture.

Valerie is eventually confronted by the wolf and realizes that it is someone in the village with a special connection to her. In an effort to keep the viewer guessing, a few gaping plot holes are developed and red herrings thrown in, which creates a mystery unworthy of solving. The greatest accomplishment is for the actors who can deliver their execrable lines without bursting into laughter. Unintentionally, the audience will surely bust up at the climax, everything the grandmother does (Julie Christie must have really needed a paycheck), and the difficulty with which the actors try to take things seriously. Now how long do we have to wait for the live-action feature film of Goldilocks and the Three Bears?

- The Massie Twins ( GoneWithTheTwins.com )

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