Red Riding Hood (8/10)

Red Riding Hood

This isn’t the Red Riding Hood I remember from childhood. It’s much better. It also isn’t the horror film that advertisements would lead you to believe. In fact when I checked into my screening I asked if it would scare me. One lady said yes and the other said no. The “no” was right. It’s not a scary movie.

Even though it’s not particularly scary, it is an entertaining movie with fine performances all around, but especially by Julie Christie as the Grandmother with big eyes and Amanda Seyfried as Red Riding Hood. Red is in love with a woodcutter, Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), instead of the choice of her mother (Virginia Madsen), Henry (Max Irons).

They all live in an isolated village in the forest living in fear of a werewolf who occasionally forages and kills people. This is basically a mystery; who is the werewolf and why is it doing what it’s doing? A werewolf killer, Solomon (Gary Oldman), is brought in to find the answer. He conducts an Inquisition-type investigation of which Fra Savonarola would be proud, even though nobody is actually burned at the stake (which was the fate that also befell Savonarola, dying by the sword with which he lived). Oldman gives a fine performance, but the person who stands out is Christie, who looks terrific and acts better.

There are lots of clues incriminating most of the characters. Director Catherine Hardwicke and writer David Johnson do a good job of leading the viewer to and fro before the final dénouement. I thought this a fine mystery helped by mystical cinematography (Mandy Walker) and production design (Thomas E. Sanders) of the village isolated in the middle of the forest .

As a postscript, I think the producers have made a big mistake advertising this film as a scary horror film. I don’t think they could figure out whether they were making a Twilight knock-off or a horror film, when, in reality what they were making was a mystery. I’ve had many people ask me if it’s a horror film when I tell them how much I enjoyed it.  From what I can determine by the way people are reacting, they are staying away because they think it’s something it’s not. Those that stay away are missing an entertaining film with fine acting and ambience.

Tony Medley is a film critic accredited by the Motion Picture Association of America. His reviews may be read in several newspapers as well as on Rottentomatoes.com, the Movie Review Query Engine, mrqe.com, and at www.tonymedley.com. In addition, he’s written numerous newspaper and magazine articles for publications like The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Magazine, The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and Good Housekeeping Magazine.

Tony Medley is a Silver Life Master in the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), an ACBL-certified Director, and the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bridge. With over 100,000 copies in print, it is the best selling basic bridge book. He is also the author of UCLA Basketball: The Real Story, available on Kindle, and Sweaty Palms: The Neglected Art of Being Interviewed, first published in 1978 and now in its third edition with over half a million copies in print, the first book ever written about the job interview for the interviewee

Run time 100 minutes.

OK for children.