The original 'Little Red Riding Hood' was a thinly veiled warning to young women ‘educating’ them on the (sexual) dangers that unknown men pose should they dare step out of the safety circles of home and hearth. Down through the generations though, this adult tale was scrubbed and sanitized into an ingenuous bedtime story for children. I am sure that it is ranks high on the popularity lists of gift for children. I know I got one when I was being initiated into literacy.
Director Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) though, is still obsessed with vampires and werewolves. She must have pounced gleefully on this opportunity since so very few tales have anything to do wolves and this one lends itself very easily into an adaptation of the werewolf myth. The screenplay sticks loosely to the original tale and adds in some twists and turns bringing in an element of forbidden love and of course, werewolves. The result is a generic, clichéd fantasy-romance.
Valerie’s sister is found dead, slain by a wolf that has been the bane of the villagers’ existence for years.Meanwhile Valerie is betrothed to the wealthy Henry at her worldly mother’s insistence when she would rather be with her beau, Peter, who isn’t as wealthy. While the two plan to run away, the appearance of a werewolf hunter in their village to counter the increasing frequency of attacks by the werewolf brings the anger and frustration of the villagers to a head. Valerie must confront her fears and come to terms with the many secrets her loved ones hold.
The Twilight influence is evident all throughout. Billy Burke could very well be typecast as parent of the danger-seeking leading lady. Shiloh Fernandez supposedly lost the part of Edward Cullen to Robert Pattinson and here he gets his chance at playing the brooding leading man. He isn't all that much of an improvement over Pattinson and is simply yet another 'pretty boy'. The supporting cast is adequate but no one really makes a mark – not even Gary Oldman playing the werewolf hunter or Julie Christie as the grandmother.
Amanda Seyfried has been on a roll since Mamma Mia! and while this is another commercial success, her performance is hardly noteworthy. She plays coy, stares wide-eyed at the proceedings, tries to play feisty and pouts all through. It isn’t something we haven’t seen before (Letters to Juliet) and appears to be the extent that her talent can stretch to.
An entertaining enough film for its primary audience – teen and pre-teen girls - and one doesn’t pretend to be anything more.
