What every teenage girl knows about Red Riding Hood is that it is directed by Catherine Hardwicke -- she of the first Twilight film. They may also know that they should stay clear of wolves on their way to granny's house. Especially werewolves. The only question is whether those young'uns will find werewolves as irresistible as vampires. Betsy Sharkey in the Los Angeles Times gives Hardwicke no praise. "Gorgeously shot, smartly conceived, cleverly cast, badly executed" is how she describes the film. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times imagines the story conference at which the movie emerged, when someone said, "Hey! Let's switch the vampires with a werewolf and recycle the theme of a virgin attracted to a handsome but dangerous hunk, only let's get two hunks!" What has finally been concocted he says is a movie so "dreadfully serious about a plot so preposterous, it demands to be filmed by Monty Python." Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer agrees. "Although Catherine Hardwicke's trippy tweenage bodice ripper borrows much from the venerable fable, Red Riding Hood is hardly scary. Funny? Yes. Sexy? For a minute or two. ... Ridiculous? Most definitely."

11/03/2011