MovieChat Forums > Red Riding Hood (2011) Discussion > Not bad except for the 'Celebration' and...

Not bad except for the 'Celebration' and accents

posted 13 years ago by SinclairJA
16 replies | jump to latest

I found this movie to be entertaining, with an appropriately dark tone, decent acting, interesting set, and a nice mystery.

The two things that really hurt it, however were the modern(ish) festival/celebration scene and the accents.

The festival was so dumb it almost made me laugh. (Post-)Modern music and dancing and comepletely anachronistic elements like a Victoria's Secret (type) Super Model posing in the middle and not moving. This entire scene really sucked.

The other thing was the accents and modern vernacular. It litterally sounded like it was shot on the street of any current American city. The only person who had any "setting-appropriate" accent was Gary Oldman's character. For some reason, he had the only "old European accent" that one might expect in a period piece like this, and not surprisingly, was the only character who seemed to fit in a setting/story like this.

[–] Segarr 13 years ago

Oldman was (Brilliantly) hamming it up more than anyone.

[–] Chaplain-Kenneth 13 years ago

I know, right. I was hoping that after he was bitten, he'd become a super werewolf hunter Priest with werewolf powers and travel the land kicking ass for the Lord.

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"Here, throw these!"
"What are they? Gas Grenades?"
"No, its Cat food!"

[–] Scribblenaut 13 years ago

Shhh!

You're giving the plot for the sequel away.

[–] ted-rolle 13 years ago

Dear god, you have actualy come up with a way to make this dross watchable.

[–] Merrida 13 years ago

Point very well taken, but I enjoyed it anyway. I chose to suspend my disbelief, and that was easy. I liked the filming, the costumes, the music, and yep, even the "festival," through all it's hammy points.

As for Gary Oldman, the man is a god among movie stars. He is always exceptional and brilliant, he never repeats an accept or performance, and is the epitome of true character actors. Always has been, always will be. He doesn't "ham" anything up. What he DOES do is friggin' ACT, and does it damn fine I might add. The man can do no wrong.
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Sic vis pacem para bellum.

[–] Wuchakk 13 years ago

I thought the celebration scene was one of the film's highlights. I'm sure it was somewhat anachonistic, but it's a 'hip' movie, not historical like "Braveheart." Besides, what do we really know about festival song & dance in the 1300s? None of us were there and no one recorded anything back then, as far as audio and video goes, so all we can do is guess with the small amount of evidence we have. Besides, the song "The Wolf" by Fever Ray is great.

[–] Gitch28 13 years ago

"Braveheart" - Historical, Red Riding Hood is more historically acurate than "Braveheart"

[–] Wuchakk 13 years ago

I meant Braveheart was based on a historical figure.

[–] ContinentalOp 12 years ago

''I meant Braveheart was based on a historical figure.''

Doesn't mean it is historically accurate. In fact, 'Braveheart' is one of the most historically inaccurate pieces of garbage ever made. Inglis lowlanders in kilts?! Not even Gaelic highlanders wore them in those days. Sadly the kilts are the least of the inaccuracies...

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Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.

[–] Wuchakk 12 years ago

Like I said, BASED on a historical figure. I was never a fan of "Braveheart" either, except for the thrown-out the window scene, lol. But I don't hate it like you; I just always found it kind of meh.

[–] Wuchakk 13 years ago

Also, while watching the celebration scene it's clear that the soundtrack song ("The Wolf" by Fever Ray) is not the actual music/song being played at the celebration; after all, in the 1300s they didn't have modern drums/percussion, electric guitars, syths and microphoned vocals. The villagers had the horns, non-miked vocals and one-piece drums and that's it. The soundtrack song is being played OVER the villager's music and is somewhat compatible (i.e. in time), that's all.

[–] Snoopy353 13 years ago

If this film were historically accurate, most of the women would be walking around in sack cloths and the whole film would need subtitles. There's something called suspension of disbelief to make a story more watchable.

"You're the one who pizza-rolled Tinkerbell." - Sam Winchester

[–] cactusx 13 years ago

The anachronisms, as truly glaring as they were, didn't bother me much, because I knew what to expect. But the accents pissed me off totally. Any notion of being immersed in the story dies there.

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You're about as on the ball today as a dead seal

[–] conquerorsaint 13 years ago

i was expecting utter garbage, thankfully oldman is awesome as usual and amanda seyfried is easy on the eyes.

[–] truthteller12345 12 years ago

I agree with the OP. The accents and modern vernacular totally threw me off. I couldn't take the movie seriously at all. It wasn't that the acting was bad it was that the writing was horrible.

[–] Spinners1961 11 years ago

Not too bad and I loved the celebration dance! I've been practicing it for weeks and still no one joins in...