Red Riding Hood

I initially saw this movie for one reason only: Amanda Seyfried, and she is GREAT in it. As is Gary Oldham. I came away delighted and bought the DVD. It exists on many levels: You have this enchanted village, with the lighting on Seyfried making her appear more an other-worldly delight from-a-fable than a normal young girl. Her sister found murdered by the wolf they all thought they had an understanding with, the Dagelhornians decide to kill the beast, raising all kinds of issues in the process. A special werewolf hunter (Gary Oldman), arrives to take control over everybody's life in order to kill the beast. Hero/deliverer quickly becomes tyrant-in-Dagelhorn amidst the love interest of the monied suitor vs. the true love of the woodsman for Amanda's hand. The fact that the "wealthy" suitor is a kind of blacksmith lends a touching morality tale: The bracelet he gives her is a simple tin-looking trinket, yet it is admired as something the poorer woodsman admits, "I could never give you anything like that." I thought it was an interesting take on 'marrying-for-money' theme when in Dagelhorn money doesn't get u very much aside from some ego-juice. Also, contrary to template, the monied suitor is actually an OK guy himself. The suspense starts when we - along with the Dagelhornians - and can they party! - have to understand the werewolf returns to his human form after he emerges in GREAT SPECIAL FX - so he cud be anyone. This is a fascinating turn, because we are subjected to constant hints and clues, along with outrageous camera "plots" in which the camera shows us Point-of-Views indicating the actions of certain characters; not all having ultimate relevance. So the viewer gets to play detective, keeping some clues, throwing out others. Keeping in mind this is a FABLE that is playing out themes of Loyalty, Love, Commitment, Fear, and also LOGIC. So you have to balance Logic with the obvious "suspension of disbelief" that plays mightily in werewolf-fables. How Amanda-as-Witch winds up solving the whole werewolf issue is pretty creative, and at the end I'm left wondering if a sequel wouldn't be fun with Seyfriend getting a little Wolfie herself. :)

I really like this movie. The first time I saw it, a lot of the music caught my ear. I got the soundtrack and have listened to it countless times. (I absolutely love "Keep The Streets Empty For Me" by Fever Ray. That song is amazing.) I love the atmosphere of the movie. The small village has a very cozy, intimate feeling about it. I want to live there! :) This movie won't appeal to everyone by any means. The movie doesn't take itself too seriously. It doesn't pretend to be some pretentious, hoity toity film for movie snobs. It is what it is, and that's what I like about it. So, regarding the movie. Personally I give it 5 stars because I like the atmosphere and I love the soundtrack. Regarding the disc, I hate it. I give it 0 stars simply for the fact that every time you put the disc in and hit play, you are forced to watch the same movie trailer. (Yes - you can skip it, but even so, a disc I purchase should not force me to watch movie trailers. Think about it. I still have DVD's from 10+ years ago. I assume I will still have this blu-ray 5 to 10 years from now. I don't want to watch the same stupid movie trailer for the next 10 years!) Even worse, blu-ray technology pretty much sucks. It's an utter failure in my opinion. (Streaming is the future.) The biggest gripe I have with this disc (and others like it) is that you can't resume! If you need to turn the movie off and go do something (or go to bed), when you hit play the following day, the disc starts over at the beginning. (And yes - it plays the movie trailer all over again.) I find this kind of thing completely infuriating. With all this advanced technology we have, you'd think that something as basic as remembering where I stopped the movie wouldn't be an issue. I'd be willing to bet the DVD doesn't have this kind of idiotic problem.

Great acting, wonderful story very well done.

Fairy tales have captured our imaginations for generations. This reimagining of a classic fairy tale will appeal to older audiences but I would not recommend it to younger ones. Everything about Valarie (Amanda Seyfried) has always set her apart from the rest of the villagers. Promised in marriage to the respectable Henry (Max Irons), her heart yearns instead for a local woodcutter, Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), who returns her affections and asks her to run away with him into the mountains. Their plans are thwarted when the bell is rung, signifying that a wolf has slain one of the villagers. For over twenty years they have lived in fear, bartering for their lives by sacrificing up their best livestock in exchange for the wolf not entering the village. But now Valarie's sister has been slain, devastating her parents (Billy Burke, Virginia Madsen) and Grandmother (Julie Christie). The men of the community are angry enough to go out and hunt down the beast, led by the resident blacksmith (Michael Shanks), but the village reverend pleads with them to await the arrival of a priest with experience in hunting wolves. Rather than heed his advice, the men take up their swords and torches and go into the wilds. Disaster transpires as a result and confusion, suspicion, and betrayal enter the village at the arrival of Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), who informs them their legends are a lie. The wolf does not live in the distant mountains but among them, a human with the ability to transform.... Adapting a fairy tale for the big screen is tricky and many films have tried it, but few can find that delicate balance between the underlining romanticism and horror of the original. This succeeds, at least in the sense that it is both engaging and interesting. Visually, it is stunning, full of haunting woods and a soft, often warm color scheme (in spite of it being winter). The costuming is striking but never overwhelms the actors, all of whom are adequate and in some instances very good. Oldman in particular seems to be enjoying this role, and Christie is quite ominous as the strange and slightly sinister Grandmother. The romantic triangle is a tad contrived but most of the rest of the script is good, if not intentionally misleading as it takes us in different directions with the intention of obscuring who the werewolf really is. It does a masterful job and while some of the plot twists are predictable, I appreciated that the two young men vying for Valarie's attention avoid most of the usual stereotypes. One cannot recommend this too easily because it does approach a fairy tale with a more mature, sensual outlook and at times the acting is painfully wooden, but I really enjoyed it. From beginning to end it was beautiful to look at and held my attention. It may not be for everyone but if you love fantasy and fairy tales stories as I do, if nothing else it will be a diverting way to spend a couple of hours.

Love it!!!

Love this movie! My husband and I are absolute movie fanatics with a huge collection. We're extremely happy to add this movie to our collection!

First things first. I must address some accusations regarding this film that I just don't understand. What's with the comparisons to Twilight? I found this film to have nothing in common with any of the Twilight films, and yes I've actually seen, well mostly, the Twilight films. The only two things I could find was the romantic male lead had similar Edward-gel hair, and the director is Catherine Hardwicke(lest we forget she also directed the great films 13 and Lords of Dogtown) the director of the first Twilight film. Yeah, otherwise, there's no real love triangle, no vampires, not set in modern times, it's got more of a horror movie and fairy tale vibe, and the focus on the story isn't the romance. The romance is a side story to the impending doom and family dramas that surround Amanda Seyfried's character. It's not there guys. I know you think you're being clever, but you're not. Secondly, there are a ton of comparisons to Neil Jordan's film In The Company of Wolves. Again, not really much in common. Jordan's film was more surreal and visceral and had no real narrative. It also only had one segment out of three that focused on the latter part of the classic Red Riding Hood fairy tale. The both reference the fairy tale, but that's about it. They're not similar in tone, story or style. Again, by saying these things doesn't make you clever.....sorry. Okay, this movie has one major problem as far as what it merits. It misses a great chance to update a fairy tale and make the original story's themes more modern or switch them. It could've easily been about virgining sexuality and rebellion. Instead we get no themes. This is a straight whodunit with a werewolf in the center. That's it. No deep themes. No real point beyond lite fluffy entertainment. This is a real bummer. I just keep asking myself, "why is this thing called Red Riding Hood"? It references elements of the story, but that's it. It's a completely different story. It borrows from well known versions of the story and little known ones, but it only gives them lip service and doesn't really make them modern or relevant to a new generation. It has no spin on the meaning of the story. Why bother make this movie, why bother call it Red Riding Hood? Like the review title states, a real missed opportunity. Now I'm not narrow minded, so I'm aware that this would be boring and simplistic to be a straight retelling of the fairy tale. Which version would you pick? The version where Red Riding Hood takes out the wolf herself, showing she can take care of herself, or the one where she is saved by a heroic woodsman giving her a second chance and allowing her to atone for her willful 'female' ways? Yeah, this story was an aural experience and was only written down later. Sorry folks, Brothers Grimm didn't event these stories, just like the monks weren't the real authors of Beowulf. You can tell it anyway you want. But this story doesn't tell it any way. It's about an un-named village in an un-named universe that has made a peace treaty with a werewolf. One day Amanda Seyfried's sister is murdered and the hunt is on for the werewolf. Seyfriend is being married off to the local rich kid, who she doesn't love or care about, but she is in love with a logger who is dashing but as about as wooden as the trees he chops. A local Holy man calls in Gary Oldman, expert in the occult-killing werewolves and witches, to slay the beast. We get scenes of the wrong beast killed. Werewolf attacks. Seyfriend being accused of being a witch. Skeletons from characters' pasts coming back to haunt them. Crazy crusader oppressing those he has been sent to protect. An unrequited romance that has no sizzle. And finally the werewolf's identity revealed, surprising but not earth shaking, and outcome of the romance. That's it. Not Red Riding Hood. A better title for this film would've been Blood Moon, as the wolf's powers of transformation and created cursed is based on the three days the moon is blood red. Why is Seyfriend given the red hood? What is the point? It's not symbolic of anything and it just seems shoehorned into the story for no real reason. Why is there a dream sequence where she has a very famous interchange with her grandmother-"Grandma, what big eyes you have"? It all seems out of place. Why not say something with the material. Werewolves have an inherant primal theme regarding letting the wild side out of ones personality. Why not do somthing with this. This is instead a bug hunt with a werewolf at the center. The acting from Seyfried and Oldman are fine. Seyfriend is a real original presence on the screen these days. She holds the movie fine. Oldman hams it up but keeps it roped in just enough to keep us from laughing. He becomes a villain of sorts towards the end of the second act. That's another thing, there's only about three werewolf attacks in the film. Even the third act has our main werewolf appearing only in human form. There's some stuff in here about Red Riding Hood being a witch due to her mental connection to the wolf, but it's really just there to muddle the plot, which as far as I could tell, was about finding and unmasking a werewolf. The rest of the cast is forgettable. Max Lions rich boy suitor barely registers. He is written as a wet blanket. At the end of the film there are explanations of him becoming the protector of the village and the leader of a werewolf hunt, but there's no build up or investment in this, so it barely matters. The woodsman is wood, wood, WOODEN. This guy is a decent looking but he has no chemistry with Seyfried, he isnt written very well, and he's not a good enough or charismatic enough actor to pull off wood lines or listless interaction. Virginia Madsen is in this thing too....but wasted. Now the effects and set designs are amazing. The set design here, mostly practical, are the best I've seen since Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. The werewolf is more of a large black wolf, and made totally of CGI. It looks okay most of the time. CGI animals still havea tendancy to movie too fast through the screen make it more obvious that they are animated. Looking at this film with the sound off would be okay it's so well shot and designed. Also, I really liked the score and soundtrack. It's modern sounding but not too much that it be distracting. Considering this story takes place in a nondescript time period in a made up time and place, it really doesn't bother me that no one has an accent, people speak and act modern, and all looks a little too clean. It's a fairy tale looking world without a fairy tale being told. Okay......... The film is fine while on. The love stuff is uninspired as written and performed. The story is no allegory, but rather a straight monster movie with a whodunit in the mix. It's nothing special but fluffy eye candy that you may love or just forget. The people who hate it seem to have some vendetta against Twilight. Although, I wonder why they talk so much about or even watch things like this or Twilight if they hate them so much. Why not do something, you know, more productinve or that make you happy? Then, what would they do on the internet all day? Blu ray looks beautiful to match the photography. The special features are negligable. The alternate ending actually makes more sense than the theatrical cut. There's some added PG-13 steamy sex, and a final reveal in the final moments that really don't matter that much if you think about it. But since the extended cut makes more sense in the edit(theatrical version has a montage of the never shown sex scene that is very confusing) actually showing the love making it's a better ending. That's all. The only other feature I was interested in was one about the making of the werewolf. It's not a featurette. It's a montage of wire frame CGI werewolves, some onset doubles with music playng in the background for about three minutes. Some interviews with conceptual artists would've been nice. Lame. Movie won't kill you to watch, as it won't kill you to miss it either.

Case was sealed no scratches works great

For the first 1/3rd of the film, I wasn't all that impressed with the story, but after the village folk kill a wolf (not the wolfman), things really picked up. There's a wonderful, seductive dance scene with a mesmerizing, throbbing soundtrack after the wolf hunt. I thought, at first, this Blu-Ray was destined for a charity shop, but that ain't gonna happen now that I've watched the film in its entirety! Nothing sexually offensive, some gore, but not over done. The film, also, has a great look to it (congrats to the photographer, and both the art & set designers.) Gary Oldman was excellent as the 'Inspector General': tough, brave, true to his principals, but a bit cruel & obsessed with his mission.

Tiene la version normal habla en español, pero la version extendida no, solo en ingles, aun asi se ve genial.

Llegó en perfecto estado y es una actualización interesante.

This movie surprised me - in a good way. It actually follows the classic story line very closely except the wolf is a werewolf. Very suspenseful drama that builds to a surprising climax. This one is not for young children (OK for +12) Amanda Seyfried is superb!

Ich konnte mir anfangs nur wenig unter diesem Film vorstellen. Doch dann habe ich mir mal die Zeit genommen und hier bei Amazon herumgestöbert. Ich habe mir diverse Filmtrailer angeschaut, von Filmen, die kürzlich neu erschienen sind. Und schnell stand für mich fest: Red Riding Hood steht bei mir ganz oben auf der Liste der Filme, die ich neu entdecken und kennenlernen möchte. Natürlich wurde ich als riesengroßer Twilight-Fan auch dadurch angelockt, dass die Regiseurin des 1. Twilight Films hier ebenfalls am Werk war. Aber was solls? Wenn man die Filme und die Arbeit der Menschen, die dort mitwirken schätzt, warum soll man nicht auch einen Schritt weitergehen und sich auf neue Projekte von ihnen einlassen? Das habe ich glücklicherweise getan und kann diesen Film wirklich jedem empfehlen, der wie gesagt Twilight und die dort herrschende Atmophäre liebt, sowie eine Stroy, die man schon seit seiner Kindheit kennt und sich traut diesem Mix aus einem alten Märchen mit modernen Elementen sowie tollen Schauspielern eine Chance zu geben. Ihr werdet nicht enttäuscht werden! Die Story ist äußerst spannend und mitreißend aufgebaut. Man fiebert regelrecht mit, wer denn nun der Wolf ist und hat immer wieder diese Momente, in denen man sich sicher ist: "Ah, ja, der ist es!" Und immer wieder wendet sich das Blatt und die Spannung wird bis zum Ende aufrechterhalten. Und ich finde, je öfter man den Film sieht, umso besser und großartiger wird er! Auch wenn man dann das Ende kennt, aber mir macht es Spaß immer wieder neue und weitere Details zu entdecken und von Neuem dem tollen, passenden und trotzdem modernen Soundtrack zu lauschen! Durch diesen Film habe ich übrigens meine Bewunderung für die Schauspielerin Amanda Seyfried entdeckt und auch ihr Kindheitsfreund in dem Film ist äußerst nett anzusehen :)