Escape to the Movies: Red Riding Hood

[bojac6]

-snip-

And Sleeping beauty involved the prince having sex with the sleeping princess, then leaving, and the princess only woke up when she was giving birth to twins.

Anyway... mostly you're correct about the general idea, but I'm really not so sure about the little mermaid, considering it's not an old legend.
Most of the 'cleaned' versions of old fairytales can be attributed to the brothers Grimm
(Hence Grimm's fairy tales)

Hans Christian Anderson however, appears to have made up a lot of his stories himself.

And in some ways, the little mermaid appears to be an allegory of his own life, more so than anything else.
(He had a failed marriage, and was very unlucky in love; He was poor, but as a famous writer, frequently saw how the rich lived their lives.
You could even argue that where he described the little mermaid as being treated like the prince's favoured pet, you could see how a poor, but very popular writer could get that kind of feeling about his life - The wealthy royalty that's very fond of him, but still don't see him as an equal.)

I've never heard the version you're describing. Maybe it does exist. Even so, the little mermaid is depressing enough as it is, given a translation of the (supposedly) original text, which involves her getting legs from the sea witch, but having her tongue cut out as payment, gaining legs (but having them be so sensitive that every step is like walking barefoot on sharp knives), spending ages living with the prince, but being treated as little more than a favoured pet, then finally being given the choice of dying and turning into sea foam, or stabbing the prince in the heart so she can go back to being a mermaid.

A really depressing story, ultimately. (or at least, it would be, if you ignore the essentially religious overtones of the ending; She dies, but gains a soul in the process, which mermaids don't have otherwise.)

Yeah, there are several version of Little Mermaid, my understanding is Anderson kept rewriting it. I was using the most grotesque version, because it helped my point, but you're right in that the actual, final, published version is pretty much what you describe. She can't really walk because of how painful her legs are, and the Prince finds this amusing so he makes her dance all time to watch her suffer. I thought the Prince ends up marrying somebody else anyways, which is why the Mermaid wants to become a Mermaid again and where the choice between murder or suicide comes in.

In any event, we can easily agree that it's very depressing and different from the Disney version. Though, I will say, the Disney version ends up pretty depressing too, what with Ariel being unable to return to her family ever again and all. For a movie made in the late 80s, it certainly has a strong "marriage is a father gifting his daughter to another man as property" vibe.

 

[RA92]

Ach, I was calling people out on assuming that having one person who also worked on twilight automatically made this film terrible since it first got mentioned.

glad I don't have to eat my words.

I believe the Twilight director also made Lords of Dogtown...

So yeah.

 

[SimGrave]

According to Metacritic (metascore / user score), sorted from best score to poorest;

- Twilight: Eclipse = 58% / 47%
- Twilight = 56% / 54%
- Twilight: New Moon = 44% / 38%
- I Am Number 4 = 40% / 65%
- Beastly = 36% / 65%
- Red Riding Hood = 29% / 35%

OK... I know that there's a whole philosophy debate over critic based on a score system.
But my point is that it doesn't matter what we (as guy) think should be done to please the female teenage audiance.
From an exterior perspective, we may believe that all this is exploitation, but it's not.
That particular audience is given what they like the way they like it.
It seems Meyer did something really good, because every day, I see women of all ages reading Twilight books in the bus / metro.
And I would believe that their appreciation of the movies is simply based on how faithful they where to the source material.
I have read the first book and saw the first movie and must say they did a great adaptation work.
Am I saying I liked either the book or the movie. No. Didn't like them at all.
But it wasn't targeted toward me.
I believe that it's a good thing movies are sometimes going deep in the stereotypes.
That there only made to appeal to a really specific audience.
I would believe that these are reasons why the Twilight saga is so popular.
It knows what it is. It knows who it is talking to. It doesn't try to be a good middle ground for everyone to enjoy.
Often, trying to please a broad audience is the best recipe to create something not even mediocre.
Something that doesn't go in the extremes people like. By being on that fence, they don't manage to fully please anyone, but just remain dull, flat and ultimately forgettable.
It's THEIR mindless movies... let them have'em.
My mindless movies; Crank, Smokin' Aces, Shoot'Em Up... and I dare anyone put over the top romance into them for the sake of appealing the female audiance.
Of course, most women find these movies stupid, but I don't care.

 

[Tdc2182]

Really wish he would have said what camp actually is.

 

[CommanderKirov]

There is something wrong with me going through the entire video and the most important thought in my head was

"God that Mayer person is fat"

 

[EchetusXe]

Did my ears deceive me or did I hear the word "foisted"?

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Say what you will MovieBob, I still refuse to see such a stupid premise.

I mean seriously, Little Red Riding Hood? C'mon!

Ah, but the original medieval tale of Little Red Riding Hood is much darker than the fairytale that we know it as. In the original Red Riding Hood is a rebellious adolescent instead of a sweet little girl, there's much more blood and violence, and the whole thing is basically a rape metaphor. This film looks to have set it's tone on the original.

...except for the fact that the girl falls in love with the wolf instead of being raped. Excuse me if I don't see the resemblance.

True, but it has even less in common with a little girl skipping through the forest picking flowers and saying "Ooh, what big eyes you have grandma!"

 

[jawakiller]

Little red riding hood gets shagged in her own movie. This could be VERY interesting...
What?
...
Who's directing it?
...
[gunshot heard in the distance]

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

According to Metacritic (metascore / user score), sorted from best score to poorest;

- Twilight: Eclipse = 58% / 47%
- Twilight = 56% / 54%
- Twilight: New Moon = 44% / 38%
- I Am Number 4 = 40% / 65%
- Beastly = 36% / 65%
- Red Riding Hood = 29% / 35%

OK... I know that there's a whole philosophy debate over critic based on a score system.
But my point is that it doesn't matter what we (as guy) think should be done to please the female teenage audiance.
From an exterior perspective, we may believe that all this is exploitation, but it's not.
That particular audience is given what they like the way they like it.
It seems Meyer did something really good, because every day, I see women of all ages reading Twilight books in the bus / metro.
And I would believe that their appreciation of the movies is simply based on how faithful they where to the source material.
I have read the first book and saw the first movie and must say they did a great adaptation work.
Am I saying I liked either the book or the movie. No. Didn't like them at all.
But it wasn't targeted toward me.
I believe that it's a good thing movies are sometimes going deep in the stereotypes.
That there only made to appeal to a really specific audience.
I would believe that these are reasons why the Twilight saga is so popular.
It knows what it is. It knows who it is talking to. It doesn't try to be a good middle ground for everyone to enjoy.
Often, trying to please a broad audience is the best recipe to create something not even mediocre.
Something that doesn't go in the extremes people like. By being on that fence, they don't manage to fully please anyone, but just remain dull, flat and ultimately forgettable.
It's THEIR mindless movies... let them have'em.
My mindless movies; Crank, Smokin' Aces, Shoot'Em Up... and I dare anyone put over the top romance into them for the sake of appealing the female audiance.
Of course, most women find these movies stupid, but I don't care.

Just because someone wants a Big Mac doesn't mean it's good for them. (or that it stops being shit)

 

[SimGrave]

According to Metacritic (metascore / user score), sorted from best score to poorest;

- Twilight: Eclipse = 58% / 47%
- Twilight = 56% / 54%
- Twilight: New Moon = 44% / 38%
- I Am Number 4 = 40% / 65%
- Beastly = 36% / 65%
- Red Riding Hood = 29% / 35%

OK... I know that there's a whole philosophy debate over critic based on a score system.
But my point is that it doesn't matter what we (as guy) think should be done to please the female teenage audiance.
From an exterior perspective, we may believe that all this is exploitation, but it's not.
That particular audience is given what they like the way they like it.
It seems Meyer did something really good, because every day, I see women of all ages reading Twilight books in the bus / metro.
And I would believe that their appreciation of the movies is simply based on how faithful they where to the source material.
I have read the first book and saw the first movie and must say they did a great adaptation work.
Am I saying I liked either the book or the movie. No. Didn't like them at all.
But it wasn't targeted toward me.
I believe that it's a good thing movies are sometimes going deep in the stereotypes.
That there only made to appeal to a really specific audience.
I would believe that these are reasons why the Twilight saga is so popular.
It knows what it is. It knows who it is talking to. It doesn't try to be a good middle ground for everyone to enjoy.
Often, trying to please a broad audience is the best recipe to create something not even mediocre.
Something that doesn't go in the extremes people like. By being on that fence, they don't manage to fully please anyone, but just remain dull, flat and ultimately forgettable.
It's THEIR mindless movies... let them have'em.
My mindless movies; Crank, Smokin' Aces, Shoot'Em Up... and I dare anyone put over the top romance into them for the sake of appealing the female audiance.
Of course, most women find these movies stupid, but I don't care.

Just because someone wants a Big Mac doesn't mean it's good for them. (or that it stops being shit)

I get your point but food and entertainment are 2 different things. Food has a direct impact on your health... too much fat will never be good for you and it's a proven scientific fact. Your appreciation of entertainment is subjective and will only hurt you if you let the fiction interfere with your reality.

 

[Mister Linton]

Oh, okay sounds dece... wait a minute, aren't you the guy that loved G.I.Joe:The Rise of Cobra? That's what I thought.
Nothin' to see here everyone, move along.

 

[Moeez]

http://img.listal.com/image/201642/600full-freeway-poster.jpg

I really enjoyed the modern re-imagining of Red Riding Hood in Freeway, with Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland. Instead of a big bad wolf, it's a big bad Kiefer Sutherland serial killer!

Anyway, waiting for your Battle LA review.

 

[daxterx2005]

second week in a row you've reviewed a movie I initially didn't want to see and made me want to see it.

 

[mireko]

...

Before this review mentioned it, I had no idea there was a movie called Ladyhawke.

[sub]Until now I was using that name to refer to the female protagonist of DA2. Just feels weird now.[/sub]

 

[bojac6]

snip

snip.

These aren't modern reinventions of friendly children's tales, they are more a return to form. The word "grim" in English actually derives from the Brother's Grimm, who recorded most of these Fairy Tales. It's not absurd at all.
.

No it doesn't. It's been around since 900 AD, and derives from the Old German Grimm, or the Nordic Grimmr.

The Brothers Grimm just happened to have pretty much the most appropriate name ever.

Well, that'll teach me to believe urban legends instead of just looking something up in a dictionary.

Umm, can a fake fact about linguistics actually be called an "urban legend"? I'm not sure what else to call it though, I've heard that cited several times, I just believed it.

It's just like that story about the woman who stopped at a rest stop and then ended up with an axe-wielding etymology in the backseat.

 

[Jabberwock xeno]

Odd.

All of the stuff I have seen about it has marketed it as a horror movie.

 

[ckeymel]

I really wanted to hate this one though. Is there going to be a dark, gritty reboot of Goldilocks & the Three Bears next? I mean come on, it would have bears ripping apart people that tried to take their porrige, while trying to get across the message that sometimes you just have to be happy with what you've got and not ruin other people's(or bear's) stuff in your search for perfection.

Actually, the original oral tradition of Red Riding Hood was a rebellious adolescent getting/almost getting (depending how evil the storyteller was) raped by the wolf that disemboweled her grandmother.

"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" isn't a logical next step.

http://www.google.com/recaptcha/api/image?c=03AHJ_VuuQIFmaUbZ67xOz65JsiR9SIhUwaQ9E_9y_3VMN7tXk0aDfv1XFnx8Aj74BcSMWbNVhFL6sHFz95d6IzFETyWz3VyzGGNI3BljyavxaClQZA28DNjzxau6e5p6TB5-tKC55PUg_UTsXlCYrHff_0GD22_QCIQ

Oh I'm not saying logic was involved in the least. I just find the desire to make dark films out of children's tales completely absurd. It could easily be done with most any of them. Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, etc. could easily be made into something horrible with just a little imagination. Hell, I think that's already been done a few times hasn't it? Taking old tales like these and filming them is just an inevitable recipe for a cinematic abortion. We could be on a slippery slope. Hence, the above horrible idea for a movie.

Mind you this is all just rampant, baseless speculation. Mostly I just find the idea of an actual Goldilocks flick hilarious.

They did a dark Snow White [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119227/] several years ago with Sigourney Weaver and Sam Neill. I actually enjoy it quite a lot. And apparently, they are gonna do another adaption with everyone's favorite mopey face, Kirstin Stewart [http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/kristen-stewart-to-play-snow-white-in-one-of-three-upcoming-adaptations-2206148.html]. Urg. And then there is Sleeping Beauty [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588398/] which I am unsure if it's an adaption or not. Lots to uhh... look forward to.

 

[DoctorM]

Tomatometer vs MovieBob:
Red Riding Hood 7% Rating. Moviebob says: "Damn Near A Masterpiece" (It's just so funny out of context.)
Rango 89%, Moviebob says "Doesn't seem to be much of a point to it."

Straining against the constraints of its PG-13 rating?
Dare we hope for an unrated DVD release where Seyfried throws her clothes off and the camera gets splashed with blood while Oldman does a crazy dance punctuated by swear words?
Because then I'll buy the DVD sight unseen.

By the way, Battle: Los Angeles got a 35% rating... Mars Needs Moms got 39% so adjust your expectations accordingly.

 

[ckeymel]

snip

Just because someone wants a Big Mac doesn't mean it's good for them. (or that it stops being shit)

I get your point but food and entertainment are 2 different things. Food has a direct impact on your health... too much fat will never be good for you and it's a proven scientific fact. Your appreciation of entertainment is subjective and will only hurt you if you let the fiction interfere with your reality.

I don't know, I would think having a poor taste in entertainment would affect your mental health/intellect and therefore have just as much of an impact as a poor nutritional diet. Not to say you shouldn't read or watch something solely for the sake of enjoyment, because sure, you can have a big ole' piece of chocolate cake now and then and not become overweight, but you shouldn't depend on it as your only source - you will stagnate. I think your point of not letting entertainment interfere with reality is moot. Everything you read and see to some extent changes the way you think/feel/perceive the world because of what you experienced while reading/watching your chosen entertainment. Even if it only changes your expectations of the next film you see. Just like eating yourself 50 pounds heavier will change your life, so will spending the next 5 years reading the bottom barrel novels.

 

[person11]

damn, this guy talks fast.