“Red Riding Hood” wants to be a fairy tale, a horror movie, and a romance all at once. It gets none of those things right.
David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick wrote the script for a film directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Amanda Seyfried plays Valerie, while Gary Oldman portrays Father Soloman. Billy Burke takes on the part of Cesaire, Shiloh Fernandez plays Peter, and Max Irons appears as Henry Lazar. Julie Christie plays Valerie’s Grandmother, with Lukas Haas as Father August and Virginia Madsen as Suzette. Shauna Kain plays Roxanne, Michael Hogan appears as The Reeve, Adrian Holmes as Captain, and Cole Heppell as Claude. The plot draws very loosely from the folk tale “Little Red Riding Hood,” which was first collected by Charles Perrault as “Le Petit Chaperon Rouge” and later gathered again by the Brothers Grimm as “Rotkäppchen.”
Warner Bros. Pictures released the film in theaters on March 11, 2011, after its premiere at Hollywood on March 7, 2011. It earned $98 million worldwide from a $42 million budget. The critical response was negative, and this review backs that up.
Trailer, via Warner Bros..
Valerie’s Arranged Marriage
In the village of Daggerhorn, Valerie calls home, the forest around it hides a Wolf that is also a werewolf. She has feelings for Peter, a woodcutter, though her parents have set up her marriage with Henry, the son of the rich blacksmith Adrien Lazar. Valerie and Peter have made plans to leave together.
Valerie’s older sister Lucie is killed by the Wolf after it breaks its truce. The preacher Father August brings in the renowned witch hunter Father Soloman for assistance. In response, the townspeople choose to hunt the Wolf on their own.
That evening, Father Soloman’s men isolate Daggerhorn and investigate the villagers to uncover the Wolf’s identity. The Wolf strikes, and the villagers take refuge within the church walls while Valerie and her companion Roxanne venture out to find Roxanne’s brother Claude, who is developmentally disabled. Cornered by the Wolf, Valerie suddenly realizes she can comprehend his speech, and he warns her that unless she departs with him at once, he will slay Roxanne and lay waste to the entire village.
The Wolf escapes, vowing to return for her decision.
The Villagers Hunt the Wolf
On the following day, Claude is seized and put to death by Father Soloman’s men, who take his frantic behavior for dark sorcery. Roxanne discloses that Valerie can converse with the Wolf. Thinking Valerie is a witch, Father Soloman parades her through the market square in hopes of drawing the beast into the open.
Valerie is freed by Henry and Peter, and Henry takes her to the church. There the Wolf attacks Father Soloman and tears off his hand with silver-coated fingernails. The villagers protect Valerie from the Wolf, who runs away once more.
What Works and What Doesn’t
Seyfried brings Valerie’s terror and resolve to life. Oldman plays Father Soloman with the proper balance of cruelty and conviction. The forest shots feel cheap but get the job done.
The script doesn’t. It’s thin, repetitive, and full of holes. Characters act stupidly for no reason. The romance between Valerie and Peter barely exists. The horror is mostly atmosphere; the Wolf rarely shows up.
“Who’s afraid?”
That’s the tagline. It’s also the question the film never answers.
Comparing the Tale to the Film
| Element | Original Tale | Film |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | A small village | Daggerhorn, surrounded by a forest |
| Threat | A wolf | A werewolf |
| Main character | Little Red Riding Hood | Valerie |
| Plot | A girl visits her grandmother | Valerie plans to run away |
| Outcome | The wolf eats her | Valerie escapes |
The title is the only thing the movie keeps. Everything else gets changed, and that isn’t a plan; it’s an issue.
The Worst of It
The premise is not earned by the film. Valerie’s ability to understand the Wolf should be the center of the story. Instead it’s a detail that goes nowhere. The werewolf barely functions as a threat for ten minutes of runtime.
Valerie and Peter’s romance feels thin on paper. It gives the story a motive for fleeing, but little reason for viewers to stay. The rest of the cast fares no better, with Lukas Haas and Julie Christie left without anything worthwhile to perform.
The ending doesn’t resolve anything. Valerie escapes, but the Wolf vows to return. The film ends with a cliffhanger that never pays off. That’s not suspense. It’s a shrug.
Why It Failed
“Red Riding Hood” tries to be a big, scary fairy tale. It isn’t scary. It isn’t big. It isn’t a fairy tale either.
What’s wrong with this picture isn’t just a matter of taste. It’s a question of coherence. A plain tale about a wolf has been expanded into something far larger: a werewolf, a love affair, and a man bent on hunting witches. But the filmmakers forgot to give those additions any reason for being there. So the finished work wanders between genres without ever settling on one identity.
The performances aren’t enough to save it. Seyfried is good, but she’s working with a bad script. Oldman is excellent, but he’s surrounded by a mess. The production design is serviceable, the music is forgettable, and the editing is choppy.
The tale is ruined from its opening lines, and nothing that follows makes up for it.
The Verdict
“Red Riding Hood” is a failure. It wastes a good cast, a promising premise, and a talented director. It’s a film that could have been a minor curiosity. Instead it’s a bloated, unfocused mess.
It’s not a good movie. It’s not even a bad movie that’s worth seeing. It’s a film that should have stayed in development.
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