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Parents' Guide to

Red Riding Hood

By Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 15+

Twilight-esque fairy-tale thriller mixes sexuality, horror.

Movie PG-13 2011 98 minutes
Red Riding Hood Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 14+

Based on 18 parent reviews

age 17+

For 17 and up.

For 17 and up.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much consumerism
age 14+

Lacking

Movie moves at a slow pace yet feels quick... Script needed work as obvious clues dropped in left nothing to the imagination. A lot of sexualised cinematography, sexual tension and suggestive foreplay..

This title has:

Great messages

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (18 ):
Kids say (63 ):

This is a predictable, overwrought horror-romance. Director Catherine Hardwicke clearly loves exploring the angsty trials of adolescence. Her movies are a catalog of teens in transition from childhood to adulthood. Unfortunately, it seems that her two earliest films, Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown, were her best. Hardwicke's mistake here was to pick such a Twilight-like story -- gothic romance, love triangle, supernatural threat -- for her first post-Edward and Bella film. The cast is full of talented actors -- particularly Seyfried, Oldman, and Julie Christie as the grandmother -- but the result is still a combination of broody young lovers panting at each other while people all around them are killed.

It's doubtful that Hardwicke would expect audiences to heckle the characters, but that's exactly what's going to happen -- and in some ways it makes this film more enjoyable. Between the over-the-top performances, Fernandez and Irons' nostril-flaring looks of rage and jealousy, and the laughable climax, it's hard not to chuckle at unintentionally funny moments. Sure, there are some decent sweeping shots of the wintry, mountainous landscapes, but once the wolf starts talking, the movie feels like some bizarre, awful mash-up of Twilight and Narnia that will only be liked by young teens who crave a couple of cute boys to swoon over and some good kissing scenes. For the rest of us, it's just not enough.

Movie Details

  • In theaters: March 11, 2011
  • On DVD or streaming: June 14, 2011
  • Cast: Amanda Seyfried , Gary Oldman , Lukas Haas
  • Director: Catherine Hardwicke
  • Inclusion Information: Female directors, Female actors
  • Studio: Warner Bros.
  • Genre: Thriller
  • Run time: 98 minutes
  • MPAA rating: PG-13
  • MPAA explanation: violence and creature terror, and some sensuality
  • Last updated: February 20, 2023

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