Peter And The Wolf Dvd

Red Riding Hood (Blu-ray)

THE FILM:

Hey, wouldn't it be super cool if we made Little Red Riding Hood but, instead of a big, bad wolf, we added a werewolf?! That's how I imagine the idea was pitched for Catherine Hardwicke's Red Riding Hood , a loose, romanticized adaptation of the fairy tale. Amanda Seyfried is lovely in the lead, but the film never settles on a tone, jerking from Gothic horror to romance to costume camp. This, along with weak direction from Hardwicke and some questionable performances, assures no one will be scared of the big, bad wolf.

Bright-eyed Valerie (Seyfried) lives in the mountain village of Daggerhorn and loves woodcutter Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), with whom she grew up. Much to Valerie's chagrin, her father (Billy Burke) and mother (Virginia Madsen) promise her hand in marriage to Henry (Max Irons), the son of a wealthy blacksmith. On the evening before she plans to run away with Peter, Valerie receives news that a wolf known to terrorize the village has killed her sister. With the help of theatrical witch hunter Father Solomon (Gary Oldman), the townspeople attempt to hunt and kill the creature, who mysteriously speaks to Valerie during its raid on the village.

I wanted to write this review without evaluating Red Riding Hood against Director Hardwicke's Twilight , but the films are ripe for comparison. As in Twilight , Hardwicke stocks the cast with good-looking young faces and several reliable old favorites. Valerie and Bella Swan even share the same on-screen father in Burke. Young male leads Fernandez and Irons easily dispense smoldering looks, but each seems more at ease modeling his anachronistic hairstyle than delivering the script's grimace-inducing dialogue.

From everything I've seen of Hardwicke, she seems like a swell lady, but her direction is spotty. As in Twilight , Hardwicke allows scenes of Red Riding Hood to turn into pure camp, overemphasizing the romance and allowing her actors to spiral off course. Seyfried's eyes suggest she understands her predicament, but I saw no such recognition from Fernandez or Irons. Oldman is always able to provide a little extra crazy to a film, but he's utterly wasted here. Burke and Madsen are basically character stand-ins with nothing to do but chew the scenery.

Notwithstanding some expansive establishing shots, Red Riding Hood feels confined, as if filmed on a theatrical stage.

The Dirty Shirt's Review of the New Version of Peter & the Wolf ...

By Sergei Prokofiev, this spellbinding new interpretation was honored as the Best Animated Short Film at this year’s Academy Awards®.

Combining stop-frame model animation using state-of-the-art digital technology, a new recording by London’s Philharmonic Orchestra, and a timeless tale, a magical world appears in which youngsters learn to find the strength and courage to overcome their fears. Resonating with over five generations of children worldwide, the Peter & the Wolf are just a few popular tales that have been translated to film and remain relevant to children today.