Review: Red Riding Hood (the movie)

Part of a movie-filled weekend a few weeks ago - our little theater had a weekend full of movies I wanted to see for once!  I spent a lot of time at the theater that weekend.  :)  I kicked it off with Red Riding Hood.

Plot:  The premise is a darker twist on the traditional Red Riding Hood story.  Teen-aged Valerie lives in a medieval town plagued by a werewolf (the Wolf).  She is caught in a love triangle, while the Wolf  meanwhile starts attacking people in the village again after decades of relatively peaceful coexistence.  A werewolf hunter, Father Solomon, arrives in the town and starts looking for the Wolf amongst the townsfolk.  Valerie is quickly recognized as special in the eyes of the Wolf.  She faces suspicion and accusations from her friends and family, while trying to find who the Wolf really is.  And yes, she wears a red cloak and has a grandmother who lives in the woods.

I did not like the girl who played Valerie.  She looked much as I had pictured her when I read the book, but had absolutely no emoting ability.  She has those big wide eyes, but most of the time just had a stare, mouth slightly agape.  I've seen bits of her work in other pieces, so I know Amanda Seyfried can do much better, but there was just nothing to her Valerie.  A few flashes of emotion, but nothing to make the character warm or believable.  And especially when compared to the book; there,Valerie is a clever, independent sort of person, wanting more than her little town presents her (think Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast) and honestly torn between her feelings for the two men interested in her.  Instead, she seems rather vacant here.

I didn't like the guy who played Peter either.  (I did like the use of Peter as a name in a story dealing with a wolf though).  His way-too-modern hairstyle bothered me, for starters.  Where does he get that much hair gel in a tiny village deep in the forested mountains anyway?  And the fact that he's supposed to be the dashing, handsome, passionate love that she's turning down her betrothed to run away with... Just look at the pictures at the bottom there.  Who would you choose?  I guess it's like every version of A Tale of Two Cities that I've ever seen - the devoted-yet-still-rejected guy always seems to be the more handsome one.  Honestly, Robert Pattison in the Twilight movies produces much the same reaction from me - "Really?? He's the handsome one sweeping her off her feet?"

Thinking of those two characters, there seemed to be little chemistry between the leads.  The love triangle was there more because everyone talked about it, rather than actually feeling it.  I guess it goes with the whole superficial feel of the movie.  There were definitely scenes which could have been much more moving - several deaths, the love triangle, etc - which never really stirred a beat.

The writing felt anachronistic.  Not that the characters were using slang, but the speech patterns of the characters especially felt decidedly modern.  Not "I am going marry your daughter" but "I'm gonna marry your daughter," less enunciated, more modern-teenager sounding.  I didn't like it.  Sometimes it was the writing itself, sometimes the delivery, but it felt jarring in several conversations.

The movie felt very rushed.  Even without having read the book, the beginning of the movie felt ridiculously hurried and choppy.  The pace settled down a little once Father Solomon arrived in the town, but  it still felt like things were empty and glossed over.  And after having read the book as well, I know they were leaving tons out that helped with the explanations and eliminated that rushed feeling.  And at the same time, wasting time with her far-away thoughts (the repeated image of Valerie and Peter walking on a snowy mountaintop with her in an impractical 20-foot long cloak was ridiculous) - scenes not really necessary, when they didn't spend time with scenes which would have helped the story more.  I'm all for eye-candy in a movie, but a good treatment of the story helps too.

Some thoughts on camera work - were they trying to avoid a higher MPAA rating by shooting all stabbings looking up the sword at the attacker?  It was already PG-13, so would showing the sword stabbings have been that much worse?  As it is, you don't actually see anything.  Not that I'm a violent little ghoul who wants to see stabbings, but it was very odd camera work and I didn't like it.

And a continuity error... Suzette's scars were not visible in her last scene in the movie, even though a point was made about how she would be disfigured by the injury.  Just something I noticed.

Now for some things I did like...

I did like the idea, the story itself.  I really like re-imagined fairy tales and classic stories.  The princess who's ordinary, or not set on being married off to the prince who slays the dragon.  Several of my favorite books are along these lines (The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye, Bridget Jone's Diary by Helen Fielding...)  This was the first time I'd seen Red Riding Hood tackled in this light, and I did like the story.

I like Gary Oldman.  He played Father Solomon as a man driven to protect in what he feels is the right way, but becomes mislead by his mission.  He wasn't quite as evil as I felt he became in the book, but Oldman made it work.  And I liked Julie Christie too.  Both of these actors have enough experience to make the characters believable, even with weak writing.  A few acting bright spots in an otherwise unremarkable casting effort.

Overall: 2.5 of 5.  Not bad, but not good.  Not even so-bad-it's-good.  Felt more like a rushed made-for-TV adaptation of a book - average acting overall, and kinda a rushed, choppy feel to the flow of the story.  Read the book instead.

 

HERE BE SPOILERS

I did and didn't like the ending. The actual book is left open-ended, though if you want closure, it is available online (more on that in another post though).  Here, they did go for the closure route, following the plot of the bonus chapter.  That was OK (I actually preferred the openness of the book) but I did like the last scenes, noting the aftermath of Father Solomon's visit, and how everyone's life continued after the Wolf came and left.  I guess to say I like the aftermath scene, but not the resolution of the Wolf mystery?