Red Riding Hood (2011)

Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke | 100 minutes | drama, thriller, romance, fantasy | Actors: Amanda Seyfried, Gary Oldman, Lukas Haas, Billy Burke, Virginia Madsen, Julie Christie, Michael Shanks, Shiloh Fernandez, Michael Hogan, Max Irons, Cainan Wiebe, Darren Shahlavi, Christine Willes, Jen Halley, Adrian Holmes, Lauro Chartrand, Matt Ward, Cole Heppell, Kacey Rohl, Carmen Lavigne, Dalila Bela, Alexandria Maillot, Joel Graves

As much as the studio bosses would like it, there is no formula for blockbuster success. Just look at ‘Red Riding Hood’. On paper, this modern retelling of the fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood is a shot in the open. There are two handsome men competing for the favors of a young woman, there is a werewolf who causes complications and the whole thing is poured into beautiful images by a director who knows what teenage girls are passionate about. Still, we’d be surprised if ‘Red Riding Hood’ became the new ‘Twilight’. The film – despite the main character’s red cloak – is far too colorless for that.

The centerpiece of the story is Valerie (Amanda Seyfried), a young woman who has been weakened by the poor man Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) since childhood, but has been promised by her parents to the wealthy Henry (Max Irons). On the night Valerie wants to run off with Peter, her sister falls prey to a werewolf. A summoned pastor (Gary Oldman) tells the villagers to look for the wolf within their own ranks. From that moment on, everyone is suspicious and no one’s life is certain. That’s especially true for Valerie; she seems to have a special bond with the wolf, which, according to the pastor, smells like witchcraft.

What starts out as a movie about a love triangle quickly turns into a murder mystery in which suspicion is transferred from one person to another in a subtle way. Unfortunately, the identity of the werewolf is not that interesting. For a film set in a small village community, remarkably little attention is paid to the placement of the figures. As a result, you do not empathize with the characters and a villager makes more or less little difference. Even aspiring suitors Peter and Henry stay flat: they’re handsome, dull, and interchangeable. Is it still interesting with whom Valerie eventually finds happiness? No, actually not, and that is the death knell for the love drama.

You can think what you like about Bella & co, but even Twi-haters have to admit that director Catherine Hardwicke at least managed to give the main characters a face in ‘Twilight’. In this film, she failed to do so, despite the attractive protagonists and tried and true tricks like an introductory voice-over. Amanda Seyfried manages to give her role some shine by putting her impressive blue viewers to work, but the effect of the frightened deer eyes wears off. Soon Little Red Riding Hood wanders like an extra through her own film, bouncing from one twist to another by a muddled scenario that leaves no time for real emotion. And there is not much to swoon.

Visually, ‘Red Riding Hood’ is stunning, with shots where the camera glides lovingly along the trees, resting on Valerie’s blood-red cloak against a backdrop of chlorophyll and white snow. Cliché, okay, but it works. Too bad Hardwicke didn’t extend that exciting contrast to the characters, then ‘Red Riding Hood’ would have been a lot more compelling.