Red Riding Hood

There once was a little girl who wore red, She had a wolf chasing her into bed. Yeah that's about as far as I'm going to keep that going. I won't torment you any longer. On to the review we go, Read on to find if the film had a bite or just sunk below.

Inside of a little village lives a young women named Valerie. She's in love with a poor woodcutter who her family doesn't see fit to marry her. So there sits the least of her problems. There's a werewolf haunting the town. First it would only take animals though now it's taking humans. Amanda Seyfried plays the role of little red riding hood. She's a beautiful female and delivers a normal performance. Her love interests both cancel each other out. Shiloh Fernanez who's one of them. Stands out and not in a good way. Every one else looks to fit the part. Yet he looks as if he came from off the set of vampire diaries. Though who could really try to stand out in this cast when being in the same scene as Gary Oldman. He steals the audience and makes you believe in the mean old CGI wolf. More on that a little later. 

At heart you have a Twilight story here mixed with an old fairy tale. In fact it is directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Who also directed the first Twilight. It is written by David Johnson who wrote a favorite of mine called Orphan. Combing those two explains why the film never leaves me bored. Even when it's diving into the triangle love story. This is something Twilight could not get right. The other part besides the love story expresses a thriller more so than a horror film. Thus putting a who's the wolf guessing game. It handles that part very well. I would have enjoyed a little more emphasis on the killings and the wolf it's self. Every time someone gets killed it's just a scratch or a bite. That's hard for me to believe for a "killer" werewolf of that size not to inflict a bit more. Now onto the wolf. It does not look bad at all even for being CGI. Though I've seen better in lower budget films. It's never really scary as I imagine. There are only a few scenes that truly steal line for line from the fairy tale. Those sound off putting and quite stupid. As if they were injected in the screenplay only to tie it to the film's title.

A retelling of a classic fairy tale that's done with a few twist. I enjoyed the medieval setting and Gary Oldman's performance as the wolf hunter. It's hard for me to suggest this title to everyone. If you like a thriller mixed with a little bit of a love interest. Than it's worth a watch at low matinee price. If your looking for a grim fairy tale with horror elements. Than you might want to wonder else where.