Ultimately, though, it's the seriousness with which Hardwicke treats the tale that proves its undoing.
Oldman and Seyfried prove to be the big attractions, but Hardwicke’s Riding Hood legend still lacks bite.
Not the fright-flick it purports to be, Red Riding Hood is nonetheless an enjoyably loopy teen-angst romp that will enthrall brooding teenage goths and their camp-loving parents, as well.
A lackluster tale of star-crossed lovers and a whodunit of staggering mediocrity.
A teen audience may find Red Riding Hood too tame, while older audiences will consider it gauche.
Red Riding Hood should be campily entertaining but somehow isn’t, because Hardwicke becomes a more complacent stylist with each successive movie, and the whodunit twists are right out of Scooby-Doo.
Gary Oldman at least raises a giggle when he turns up as a priest with the only European accent in the movie, but even he can’t make up for the flatlining acting from a cast that would be far more at home in a Californian teen soap.
A grandma, what a big turkey you're in!
Astonishingly awful.
Entertaining but only partially successful.
Unless you're a bored teenager with spare pocket money this Easter, your time would be better spent visiting your actual granny than chumming Red Riding Hood through the forest to see hers.
The only reason for this film is a blatant attempt to cash-in on the Twilight series.
The resulting mishmash is a boring mess, neither scary nor sexy enough to justify its innovations.
The village in Red Riding Hood has all the eerie forest atmosphere of a theme park dedicated to the Smurfs. The leading men may be wooden, but the ubiquitous log cabins look plastic.
'We put the sexual symbolism back into Red Riding Hood'
Amanda Seyfried: My, what big eyes you've got
General release. Check local listings for show times.
RSS feed of Cinema reviews