With HOODWINKED TOO! and this film, the Little Red Riding fairy tale has inspired two of the worst films of 2011. Catherine Hardwicke embraced campy romance to some degree in the original TWILIGHT film, but she has a whole forest of sap here. The only bright spots are the always-good Amanda Seyfried and her crimson cloak.
Seyfried plays Valerie, a young woman who is in love with the lowly woodcutter Peter (Shiloh Fernandez, DEAD GIRL), who in between chopping wood must spend the rest of his time in the salon to maintain that perfect "Team Edward" coif. Unfortunately she has been set up in an arranged marriage with Henry (Max Irons, DORIAN GRAY). Their village made a truce with a werewolf years ago, but the beast is back and has killed Valerie's sister.
Bible thumping werewolf-hunting preacher Solomon (Gary Oldman, THE PROFESSIONAL) arrives in town and says that the werewolf is hiding within the population. The film makes everyone a suspect. Could it be one of Valerie’s lovers? Oh no not Peter. Could it be one of Valerie’s relatives? Her mother Suzette (Virginia Madsen, SIDEWAYS) does have secrets. Her father Cesaire (Billy Burke, TWILIGHT) is the town drunk, which of course makes him shifty. Grandma (Julie Christie, DOCTOR ZHIVAGO) oh what big eyes she has. And how can you trust the kooky lady that lives in a cabin way off in the woods. Valerie’s best friend Roxanne (Shauna Kain, X2) has an autistic brother Claude (Cole Heppell, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID), so he must be a suspect, because this is ignorant medieval times.
The plot creates no real tension only red herrings in order to make us convinced the werewolf has to be so and so. The more it does this the more we know we’re being played. Some of these herrings flap around so abruptly that one doesn’t know if we’re supposed to be laughing instead of being unsettled.
The love triangle doesn’t even create any tension, because it’s handled in the complete opposite way of the rest of the melodrama. The men don’t fight for Valerie. They’re both bland and there to smolder. It’s clearly trying to develop an Edward / Jacob conflict as in TWILIGHT, but it’s done so with no fangs. It’s clear why Valerie doesn’t like Henry; he’s a pushover.
Of course, elements of the fairy tale are woven into the story. The red cloak is a wedding gift. In this puritanical society it’s like sowing a red A on your chest. Thanks grandma. So will gram’s fate end up like the end of the fairy tale? When it comes you might miss it because you have already rolled your eyes toward the ceiling. Better to see this film with your eyes adverted completely.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
