Movie Review: Red Riding Hood (2011)

I only knew going into this that I was about to watch a fairy tale adaptation marketed as a thriller (see poster^).  Now, this is the one fairy tale that Disney has yet to ruin (see any original fairy tale ever), so I was very excited to find out what was done with it.  The tone of the whole film was absolutely paranoid and the villain is a werewolf.  How do you not instantly fall in love with this?

Essentially, this is a whodunit?  Some giant beast has killed some poor girl, so obviously it's time to call in Gary Oldman.  I mean, obviously.  He's to find the killer and put right all this madness.  Oh, also, the Red Riding Hood girl?  She's just been told she'll marry someone she's not in love with (she already has a forbidden romance--what??)  It's hard not to want to find out who this monstrous murderer is, as well as whether our not-quite-that-brave heroine gets her happily ever after.

The actors in this film took it to another level with the way they conveyed mistrust and suspicion.  I found out that they weren't told who the werewolf was going to be in order to amp up the suspense and I can confidently say 'well done.'  The cinematography was just freakin' gorgeous and the costuming was nicely done, as well.  Atmospheric, if you will.  Between that and the constant heart-thumping 'who's next,' I dare you not to get pulled in.

MEMORABLE SCENE:
The festival scene was crazy-cool Pagan-like.  There's also that part where they paraded Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) in a Mask of Shame and chained her to the center of the town like a sacrifice.  That'll stay with ya.

QUOTE:
Solomon: "Do you know how you kill a tiger, Father Auguste?  You tie up your best goat and wait."

RATING:
This is one of those very special movies that I thought was downright perfect.  It had everything I could possibly like about a movie in it and therefore it gets that special 10/10.  It was bound to happen eventually.