Red Riding Hood

Fantasy & Supernatural Thriller/Horror

Starring: Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia), Gary Oldman (Harry Potter)

Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight)

Release Date: 03/11/11

Cry Factor: Nope, no crying

Laugh Factor: At the stupid times, yes

WTF Factor: Pretty much the whole film

Severely disappointed by this movie; severely. It's set in a medieval village that is terrorized by a werewolf. Red Riding Hood, Seyfried, whose name is Valerie (what kind of a medieval name is that?), is arranged to marry a wealthy blacksmith, yet is in love with a simple woodcutter, a friend from childhood. After Seyfried's older sister is killed by the wolf, a crazy religious radical and apparent werewolf expert strides into town, called by the local religious leader. The 'search' begins and many innocent die, as with the radical-est of the radical, as Gary Oldman's character proves. The wolf is eventually found after her broken engagement and is killed, by Seyfried, but not before it bites her true love and he is turned into a werewolf. She says she'll wait for him, blah blah blah.

The two things I hated about the movie:

#1 The reveal of who the wolf was took SO LONG. Seyfried could talk telepathically to the wolf (which led to some witch accusations) and saw that he had brown eyes. So she suspected EVERYONE in the village of being the wolf. It was like every scene for twenty minutes was just shots of dilated frightened brown eyes. A lot of blond hair in the village, and not a soul had blue eyes? Kind of didn't match up. All brown. It literally took so long. A long reveal with pretty crappy acting. And when it finally did happen, they cheated the audience out of the story.

#2 Why do I say they cheated the audience out of the story? Because they TOLD us instead of SHOWING us at the end. I hate when writers go that way. Why? Because it shows that they're lazy and it's the easiest way. The wolf told her the whole story. They couldn't just show us during the movie what was happening with the wolf. Must have been too much work! Annoying and a cheat!

I was very disappointed in Red Riding Hood. I was thinking it was going to be awesome. But no. Such an old (700 years) and great story to go off of and a major flop. Boo. Don't waste your time on Red Riding Hood.

1/2 star (doesn't even get a whole '1' because the writer was lazy. #Sorryboutya)