When the soundtrack and the set designs are the best things happening in Red Riding Hood, that probably does not bode well for all the other elements encompassed in this 100 minute feature.

This over-stretched fantasy-horror take on the classic tale with the same title, should have signaled to someone watching the final cut, that certain properties are just not suited for the cinematic treatment. This attempt provided key evidence to that notion. Through the lens it looks good, but then characters open their mouths and fall victim to a script that was written in crayon.

Valerie/Little Red Riding Hood (Amanda Seyfried) has the typical fairy tale issue of dealing with forbidden love. She is infatuated with the orphaned village ax-men Peter (Shiloh Fernandez) but her parents (Billy Burke and Virginia Madsen) have chosen the wealthy, yet timid Henry (Max Irons). Meanwhile, the poor small village that resembles a township pulled out of any Frankenstein product – picture 1988’s Willow – lives in fear of the big bad wolf. The werewolf has been haunting their village for nearly twenty years. The village has made a pact with the beast, by offering animal sacrifices every full moon. However, every few years when the moon is blood red, the wolf snacks on human life.

And that’s where this story picks up, the wolf has struck again, killing a villager. Which usually means it will go away. Except the creature is not satisfied this time and seems to have an agenda. Knowing this, Father Solomon (Gary Oldman) is summoned, at the behest of a young local priest (Luke Haas), and brings along a medieval posse . While Father Solomon begins to institute a Marshall law approach in the snow-covered town, Valerie encounters the wolf and begins to form a connection of sorts. A connection that has her grandmother (Julie Christie) very intrigued.

Without giving anything away, the story tries to shake things up at the end, as foreshadowed by the mysterious plot revolving around who is the big bad werewolf. Staying with this, the script and the performances never really sold any mystery angle. It’s not that one can guess who the wolf is, but after a certain point (halfway through) the audience will not be into the guessing game anymore. The ending drags and provides seldom emotion for any viewer to latch on to. It appears – and is executed – as if the studio ran out of money to finish the film.

This flick plays it straight and every angle is taken seriously. Which is nice to see, but the characters are drastically uneven and ruins the intended mood far too often. Perhaps having some fun with the material could have enhanced the tedious pace of this story. And then there’s continuity annoyances.

First off, this is a period piece, depicted during the time of knights, and when society and/or the church still persecuted witches. So how Shiloh and Max Irons manage to have boy-band styled hair is beyond ridiculous. Secondly, the dialogue written is delivered as if the only audiences that will see this sucker are grade-schoolers. Which then begs the question, why is this rated PG-13? Reason being, the CGI’d wolf shows up and sinks its teeth into a few people. And the occasional limb may fall off. Other than that, the script provides a balance of childish moments found in animations with faint dark images, which are then delivered in beautiful vibrant colors. Am I watching a horror flick or Saturday morning cartoons?

Is there anything to enjoy in Red Riding Hood? Yeah, Gary Oldman tries to inject some much needed life as his character portrays the anti-hero (more like hero-anti). Too bad the accent he enacts is tough to understand though. Amanda Seyfried (who I believe is a solid talent), is given nothing substantial to do here. It’s fine to keep the characters light, but the musical score – which played so often you may think you’re at Cirque show – tried to convince the audience that monumental moments were always happening. I’m afraid not folks.

Still, the way the cinematography was handled and the exploration of every nook and cranny of the well-designed village provided a bit of entertainment. The story can keep it together every now and then, but it definitely wears out its welcome. Especially when it turns into an “eye-examination.”

Overall, Red Riding Hood is its own worst enemy. The more it tried to add layers to an already simplistic tale, the faster it begins to lose its luster as movie. It went for the Sleepy Hollow approach. Ironically though, that said title is all Little Red amounted to. Sleepy and hollow.

RATING: 1.5 out of 5

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Warner Bros. has released the first trailer for their update on Red Riding Hood, which stars Amanda Seyfried as the title character. Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) is directing, and from the trailer you can tell (there are lots of wood shots and a forbidden love storyline).

Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight) is also in the film, and plays a werewolf hunter who is called upon after the beast takes a human life.

Watch the trailer below:

Here’s the official synopsis:

In “Red Riding Hood,” Seyfried plays Valerie, a beautiful young woman torn between two men. She is in love with a brooding outsider, Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), but her parents have arranged for her to marry the wealthy Henry (Max Irons). Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter are planning to run away together when they learn that Valerie’s older sister has been killed by the werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. For years, the people have maintained an uneasy truce with the beast, offering the creature a monthly animal sacrifice. But under a blood red moon, the wolf has upped the stakes by taking a human life. Hungry for revenge, the people call on famed werewolf hunter, Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), to help them kill the wolf. But Solomon’s arrival brings unintended consequences as he warns that the wolf, who takes human form by day, could be any one of them. As the death toll rises with each moon, Valerie begins to suspect that the werewolf could be someone she loves. As panic grips the town, Valerie discovers that she has a unique connection to the beast–one that inexorably draws them together, making her both suspect…and bait.

Red Riding Hood will be released March 2011 and also stars Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, and Julie Christie.

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Back in August of 2009, director Catherine Hardwicke signed on to direct Girl in the Red Riding Hood, a gothic interpretation of the Little Red Riding Hood story. (Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way production company is teaming with Warner Bros. for the film.) Now the Los Angeles Times suggests that Amanda Seyfried (Jennifer’s Body, Dear John) is being courted for the lead role in the film.

They report that writer David Johnson (Orphan) has finished a new draft of the script, and the movie is apparently gaining momentum. We still don’t know a lot about the film’s approach, other than its “gothic” nature and it’s supposedly a werewolf story with a teenage love triangle at the center. The Times goes out of its way to draw comparisons to Twilight (which Hardwicke also directed), but even though I’m certain Warner Bros. is willing to cash in on Twilight-mania, I’m holding out a bit more hope for the quality of this project.

Perhaps my expectations are because of DiCaprio’s involvement, even if he ends up only being involved as a producer. As recently as yesterday in an interview with MTV, he stated what we as movie fans all hope to hear: “It’s all about the material at the end of the day.” It’s clear DiCaprio has high hopes for his content and isn’t interested in cashing in on the latest trend, and Hardwicke has proven herself an interesting director with films like Lords of Dogtown and Thirteen. I think Seyfried has yet to show her real talent as an actress, but perhaps Girl in the Red Riding Hood will be something of a showcase for her. In any case, at least it should be something different.

A final note: Michael Dougherty’s Trick ‘r Treat provided some interesting Red Riding Hood imagery which shares some potential story elements with Hardwicke’s new project. I won’t spoil Dougherty’s film for you here, but it’ll be interesting to see how those comparisons shake out when all is said and done.

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Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke will not be directing it’s sequel, New Moon. The news first broke on Deadline Hollywood, where it stated that Hardwick “was ‘difficult’ and ‘irrational’ during the making of Twilight”. However, Summit Entertainment quickly released a statement on the matter:

Summit Entertainment and director Catherine Hardwicke jointly announced today that the filmmaker will not be directing the next installment in the newly minted “Twilight” film franchise. Summit’s targeted end of 2009 or early 2010 release of the film, New Moon, does not work with Ms. Hardwicke’s required prep time to bring her vision of the film to the big screen. Thus as has been done before with many successful film franchises, the studio will employ a new director for New Moon.

All eyes will be on Catherine Hardwicke tomorrow during the European press tour in France. Was she fired by Summit or does she really have prep timing issues?

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