Le chaperon rouge

Hélas, le scénario illogique au dialogue affligeant, ainsi que les procédés ridicules dont la cinéaste fait usage pour forger le suspense, tuent l'entreprise dans l'oeuf.

À classer dans la même catégorie que le récent The Wolfman et Le poil de la bête, Red Riding Hood est une nouvelle occasion ratée de présenter un opus littéraire en l'adaptant correctement au goût du jour.

And they called it Red Riding Hood, and the people at a preview screening all had a good chuckle at some of the dopey attempts to scare them, and they all lived happily ever after, because they didn't have to watch it again.

Red Riding Hood propose une relecture intéressante du Petit chaperon rouge, mais gâchée par les tics agaçants du cinéma commercial pour ados.

Hardwicke builds this impeccable, gloomy world but has no idea where to take us once she gets us there, and unfortunately the cast seems as lost as we do.

Suffice to say, I loathed Red Riding Hood, and if the dozen or so other fairly tale ''reimaginings''that are coming down the pike are as bad as this, we're all doomed. This is good for 12-14 year old girls, but absolutely no one else. Consider yourselves warned.

The dialogue exchanges possess no spark, the action is indifferently covered by random camera moves and cuts and the only jolts are provoked by cheap shock-cuts to the growling or roaring wolf.

The best that can be said is that the production design is striking. Otherwise, it's a foolish story, marred by a strange blend of overacting and bland, offhand performances.

Ms. Hardwicke is an uneven, at times careless filmmaker, but as she showed in movies like Thirteen and the first Twilight, she is attuned to beauty and has a way with young actors, tapping their energy so it buzzes on screen.