As I’m sure you can guess, I am ridiculously behind on my movie watching, but at long last I have gotten around to watching Red Riding Hood! Finally! This werewolf film came out a few months back and stars the gorgeous Amanda Seyfried… which is about all it has going for it – pretty actors and pretty clothes. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
In Red Riding Hood, Amanda Seyfried is Valerie, a young woman torn between two men. She is in love with a poor woodcutter, Peter, but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry. Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter plan to run away together, but then Valerie’s older sister totally ruins it by being killed by a werewolf. The death of Valerie’s sister causes the whole town to go into a panic so they call on famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon, to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon’s arrival brings unintended consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. That causes even more panic (Solomon is a douche) and everyone starts accusing everyone else of being the wolf. When Valerie discovers that she has a unique connection to the beast she soon suspects that the werewolf could be someone she loves.
That about covers the general gist of it all.
Now, before I begin to rant about what I hated in this film, let me first cover what I liked.
As I mention above, the actors, actresses and the costumes were wonderful to look at. Even the cinematography was pretty well done. So, one good thing about Red Riding Hood is that it’s visually appealing. Uh, that’s something, right?
Other than making my eyes happy, I also like that the writers did a bit of research on werewolf lore. When we first meet Father Solomon he tells the tale of cutting off a werewolf’s paw, putting it in his bag and looking at it later to discover that the paw had turned back into a human hand. That story comes straight from werewolf history, you can find it in virtually every book on werewolf folklore. So the writers get some brownie points for that.
And that’s what I liked. Yeah, not much.
What I hated was the acting, Amanda Seyfried’s in particular. The woman is absolutely stunning but my goodness the chick can’t act. Seyfried was cold and emotionless in this role, she was like a pretty robot in a red cape. Her acting was so dead and passionless that I simply couldn’t get into this movie. How can you be expected to be interested in a film when the actress isn’t even believable? Honestly, she’s that way in all movies I have seen her in. I want to like her so much but I just can’t, not when she’s that bad.
The story itself wasn’t bad, but it could have been done better that’s for sure. Most of Red Riding Hood was yawn-worthy (partly due to the actor’s blah performances) but it wasn’t absolutely awful. There were a few thrilling and exciting parts, some sexy parts and some fantastic fight scenes. But it wasn’t enough to make this a great movie.
Overall, Red Riding Hood isn’t all that amazing. I was expecting better and was very much disappointed. With a better lead actress and a better director this film could have been amazing, it definitely has the potential, but as it stands it’s nothing spectacular. In spite of being less than perfect I still think it’s worth a watch, it did manage to keep me entertained for over an hour, and that’s something.
Have any of you seen it? If so what did you think?
– Moonlight
What I personally liked about the movie was the costumes, scenery , music (The festival song called The Wolf) and particularly the wolf’s design. Also, for a change one of the few movies where a werewolf is still alive at the end of the movie.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the music! I loved that as well, it was fantastic.
yeah, have to agree with ya, I didn’t really get into the film at all… I did think the music was interesting aswell, but that really cant save the poor performances of the actors >< sigh, I'm glad that werewolves are getting more attention, but thats exactly the reason why the film industry has to nail it and create great werewolf movies… this just wasn't up to my expectations.
I thought the visuals were good too, and the werewolf myth, but the rest I hated.
I also had high hopes for the movie and was pretty disappointed. While watching it seemed like the movie went to fast, like the scenes were too short to draw me in…
What I personally hated was how the “werewolf” wasn’t evena werewolf. Just another wolf on steroids much like that crappy Twilight stuff. Was VERY dissapointing.
A long time ago you wrote a post about how good this movie was. So does this movie suck or what?
No, a long time ago one of the other writers on this site wrote up a recap of Red Riding Hood, which simply tells you everything that happens in the film. She added at the end that she loved the movie. It’s not an actual review of the movie though, which is why I wrote up my own review. And as I said above, it’s not the worst movie ever, but it’s not the best either. It’s an ok movie.
the book of this movie is thousands of times better.and whats up with the werewolf?its a twilight wolf.not a werewolf a overgrown wolf.
TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!! FU