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Saturday, March 12, 2011
MOVIE REVIEW
Red Riding Hood
Sigh Candy
What big eyes you have: the wolf within. Amanda Seyfried as Valerie in
"Red Riding Hood", directed by Catherine Hardwicke.
Warner Brothers
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
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Saturday,
March 12, 2011
Oh teenage love, how do I count thee myriad ways of being? Raging
hormones, bulging eyeballs, wicked wolves, moonlit nights, lots of music -- but
very little joy. Fear will do that, I suppose, but isn't love supposed to
defeat fear and joylessness? Rise! Shine! Smile! Love!
Eat! Pray! Banish the wolf from thy bosom!
Director Catherine Hardwicke brings her energies and visions to "Red Riding
Hood". The drama opened yesterday in theaters across the U.S. and Canada.
The time-worn tale of a town in a panic over a wolf is a gleaming hunk of eye
candy, but the candy tastes like castor oil.
Amanda
Seyfried stars as Valerie. Valerie's sister has been ravaged in
the small snowy town of Daggerhorn, and other relatives will suffer.
Decorous, dripping with the honey-dewed pallor found in Mills & Boon romance
novels or airport books of amour, "Red Riding Hood" is neither great nor funny,
but mostly awkward as it ambles shakily in its attempt to reconcile its story
with the visual beauty that dominates it.
Valerie's arranged suitor is Henry (Max Irons), a dull, privileged soul who can
offer Valerie the world, except a personality and possibility, while the man she
hungers for, Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) seems not to take much notice of her.
Independent of the tragedies that have befallen or surrounded them, all three
look so joyless and sad throughout "Red Riding Hood". The wolf must be
lying in wait, chuckling from the sidelines at this weak-kneed sideshow.
Ms. Hardwicke has groomed teenage love and desire before in "Twilight", the
immensely popular film that helped catapult Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson
and Taylor Lautner to stardom. The vampires ruled and defeated the wolfen
creatures of that film and the global box office in the process.
In "Red Riding Hood" wolves lurk, of course, within the human heart. Some
notorious citizens try to vanquish the beast who torments and mauls Daggerhorn.
Wafting with its campy scent, the metaphorical aspects of "Red Riding Hood" are
all too clear, and displayed in numerous ways. The predictable nature of
Ms. Hardwicke's film leaves you waiting for the inevitable. The film has
its share of good actors, including the legendary Julie Christie, but she and
others look like they are all in on this old wolf trick. The more sadistic
side of you says: "let this gorgeous little wolf gobble up these hapless people
on the double-quick, and be done with it all so I can leave the theater feeling
not-so goody-good about myself." Or something not like that.
Ms. Hardwicke builds an evocative atmosphere with fine art direction, but the
love story presented lacks a solid heartbeat, feeling more obligatory than
organic. The film's poor dialogue provokes laughter, mostly derisive.
"Red Riding Hood" provides opportunities for its audience to mock it. The
characters engaged in the ruins or ruminations of love are tentative, gripped
with inaction. Love is supposed to be powerful, dynamic, passionate.
In "Red Riding Hood" potential lovers are jaded at best, if not outright
cynical.
The film imposes its music score on you, forcing you to notice it. "Red
Riding Hood" attempts to build suspense and feeling with its music and primal
jolts but winds up lampooning itself. Ms. Hardwicke has more enthusiasm in
the creation of the visions than writer David Leslie Johnson does in contouring
and galvanizing the script. It's worth noting that Leonardo DiCaprio is
one of three producers of "Red Riding Hood".
The director has captured love and teens in jeopardy prior to "Twilight" with
her jarring drama "Thirteen", a film as nakedly honest and probing as any you'll
see on teenage girls. "Red Riding Hood" by contrast, lacks depth as a
film, let alone a constituent of the genre of period drama from which it comes.
Films like "The Company Of Wolves", via Neil Jordan, conjured more fear and
dread than this candy-confectioned presentation.
Over-directed with vertiginous camera moves, "Red Riding Hood" swirls with
aerial views of Daggerhorn's snowy, wintry confines. Ms. Hardwicke's new
film calls to mind parts of Mike Nichols' "Wolf", with Michelle Pfeiffer.
Here, Ms. Seyfried (pronounced Sigh-frid) brings adult intelligence, innocence
and contained sexuality to Valerie. The lead actress flaunts expressive,
doe-eyed sensuality to a ordered film that doesn't deserve her skills and
smarts.
Valerie seems unconcerned with the wolf. Valerie's a humanist who follows
her heart. Valerie is apt to say to the marauding wolf, "talk to the
hand", as she pursues true love. "Later for your lustful ways, wolf --
I've got priorities to satisfy. Make love, not lunacy. Sigh.
Swoon."
I picture the wolf responding: "My, Amanda, what big eyes you have."
With: Gary Oldman, Virginia Madsen, Billy Burke, Lukas Haas.
"Red Riding Hood" is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association Of America
for violence and creature terror, and some sensuality. The film's running time is one hour and 41 minutes.
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