Red Riding Hood

Well here we go again, another classic fairy tale is being re-imagined for the 21st century silver screen. As some of you may know, my opinion on last weeks "Beastly" (another re-imagined classic tale) was less than spectacular. Does "Red Riding Hood" spark hope for the many more fairy tale remakes to come?

Valerie's (Amanda Seyfried) town has been haunted by the Wolf for years. The people of the town offer a monthly sacrifice to keep the beast out of their homes but even that cannot stop the Wolf from killing Valerie's sister one night. Because of the killing of this girl, the townspeople become more and more enraged with the cursed animal and want to go out and kill it and rid the town of the horrible beast forever. To help the people in their quest, the town priest calls upon Father Soloman (Gary Oldman) who has experience in slaying werewolves and witches. He promises to find the beast and kill it by any means necessary and warns the people that the wolf could be anyone in the town and to be cautious.

But to Valerie, the wolf is the least of her problems. The real problem is her love life. Valarie loves Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), a woodcutter that she has known since childhood, and he loves her. But when Valarie's parents arrange for her to be married to a blacksmith named Henry (Max Irons) in order to pay off a debt that Valerie's family owes Henry's...things get complicated. Now Valarie must decide whether or not to honor her parent's orders while keeping a watchful eye out for the Wolf who could very well be the one that she loves.

Interestingly enough, I found the pros and cons of "Red Riding Hood" very similar to "Beastly." First off, I like the film's plot and the way it manages to take a classic story and find ways to make it new. The film has a good mix of romance, action, and thrill (although romance is the overpowering element of the film). Of course being the teenage guy that I am, I enjoyed all the action that I wasn't really expecting. I was also surprised by the amount mystery that surrounded the movie. The story kept me guessing throughout, "Who is the Wolf?" and yes...the end will surprise you.

But once again, the entertaining story line is tainted by bad acting and a bad script. As some may notice, the poster says, "From the Director of 'Twilight'" and unfortunately the terrible sappiness and cheesy romantic lines seen in the vampire flick echo in "Red Riding Hood." Every time I enjoyed a good scene, a corny one would follow leaving me cringing with disappointment (and a little vomit in my mouth). And the acting just makes it worse. While the leads, Seyfried and Oldman, do the best with what they are given, the supporting actors are just a bunch of people I have never heard of and hopefully will never hear of again.

So another classic fairy tale has crashed and burned under the modern silver screen. Lets hope that this pattern shown by "Beastly" and "Red Riding Hood" doesn't reflect what is coming up this year and next year with the many more fairy tale revamps coming up including adaptions of Sleeping Beauty and three different takes on Snow White. Hopefully the screenwriters for those films can perform a little better than the ones for "Red Riding Hood". I give it 1.5 stars out of 4.

"Red Riding Hood" has a running time of 100 minutes and is rated PG-13 for violence and creature terror, and some sensuality.