Red Riding Hood (2006)

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

if there is any one thing that those of us that have seen this movie can agree on it's that we are all not N'SYNC with this whole thing. seems like you either like it or hate it or are perplexed by it.is it any good? well, actually i'm a little confused about this one. i happen to like the film very much and think it's surprisingly well done for what it is and it's ambitions(which are few)are. it's also at least likable enough not to deserve the critical skewering it usually gets. i think people are a little "put off" by this movie because the end result is unintentionally bizarre and way over the top. i think the film wants to be amusing and quaint, but it far exceeds that to the point the viewer feels as if they are being "punked" by this. of course not. it's just that fey and crazy weird. i mean what show in it's right mind lets Debi Mazar do her own singing? the result is predictably ear piercing. ouch. Debi Mazar is a really good actress, just not a good singer.also Joey "the fat one" Fatone is disturbingly over the top here as well, and a very strange presence. remember Fatone? he was the fat kid in the baby band N'Sync who was always back up and never a front guy. it's not that Fatone is'nt good. as a matter of fact he's slickly professional and sings and dances well and is very funny. what's the problem? Joey Fatone is way too young of a performer to seem like such a has-been, washed out, Las Vegas, Wayne Newton type. i mean the guy has just barely turned the big three zero and he's already ready for a has-been appearance on the 'Surreal Life'. his performance here is likable and engaging, but it feels so Las Vegas and so Wayne Newton. something too over-the-hill for someone this young. i doubt Fatone will ever enjoy the respectability that N'Sync buddy Justin Timberlake is enjoying now as a serious actor.the two best performers are the girl portraying 'Red' herself, and Lanie Kazan, who is delightfully ditzy as the yoga loving, hippie, liberal grandmother. Kazan sings and moves just great and reminds us that there is life for the geriatric set. there are also some funny performances by the girls who play the uber cool Ashley's. the Ashley's are a hilarious, tough, hybrid of 'hello kitty' and the 'Avenue 13' gang.despite a ridiculous 'PG' rating, everything here is 'G' rated and wholesome for all ages. the only thing that parents should be strongly cautioned about is the age inappropriate love interest for Red Riding Hood. it's age inappropriate because, hello, the little girl is only thirteen where the boy is at least eighteen or nineteen. that's an age difference that's bound to make any uptight father of a tween girl cringe.i'm not going to pretend this movie is great cinema. but it is a musical and a fairy tale, two things i absolutely love. it's an unintentionally strange film (probably due to it's being a musical), but i think it's fun and it was directed by Hollywood pro Randal Kleiser who always turns in a polished looking production even when the material is kind of junk. which, as much as i like this, this is.

Teenage Claire (Morgan Thompson) would rather hang out with her friends at the mall than to stay home with her brother Matt while Grandma babysits. Who wouldn't? Unfortunately, Grandma isn't about to let Claire out of the house. Worse, she insists that Claire and Matt listen to her reworking of the Brothers Grimm classic tale "Little Red Riding Hood". Fortunately, Grandma has a sense of humor, and adds some modern twists. Claire imagines herself as Red, and her brother, parents and grandma as....her brother, parents and grandma.Although this movie's star drawing power is represented by Lainie Kazan as Grandma, singer Joey Fatone as the werewolf and Cassandra Peterson (a.k.a. Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark) in a small role, the real fun is watching freckle-faced Thompson and Sam Stone (who plays Matt and Rusty) reciting their one-liners. Oh sure, there's the songs and CG effects, but it's the characters and dialogue that you'll remember. (When the werewolf as Grandma tells Red that she must eat to "fill out", Red looks at her chest and says, "Yeah, I know.") Undeniably the funniest version of this story that I've seen.IMDb and other web sites claim 2004 as the year of release, however Key DVD (20th Century Fox's revival of Key Home Video, the company Fox created to distribute movies it was too embarrassed to put it's name on) claims both 2005 and 2006 copyright dates on the box, while the film itself states 2006.For the record, this is my fourth and final "Little Red Riding Hood" review.

I admit; I looked for the sound track to the movie after I rented it. This was good. They went for the music and story over visual effects. Frankly, I think that was a good choice. The culture was current and I'm worried that will make the movie dated but you can tell everyone had fun making this movie; and it's infectious. Anyone can enjoy it. When you make a movie out of a fairy tale, you have to pad it. This was padded mostly with music. It was pop music but it was good pop music. It was specifically for the movie and it added to it. The rest was the modernization of it. That made it look like an episode of Lizzy McGuire, but Lizzy McGuire is popular for a reason. Watch it. It's good. You'll enjoy it and so will you're kids if they give it a chance.

I was lucky enough to see Randal Kleiser's "Red Riding Hood", a technological breakthrough in shooting full stream HD with the Viper camera on a virtual reality stage. While this technology is being used more often, it was pioneered by Kleiser in 2003 in a full scale musical. Kleiser, the director of the most beloved and seen musical of all time ("Grease") applies his deft touch and sensitivity for childhood innocence to this musical contemporary retelling of the Grimm Brothers fable. With outstanding performances from Joey Fatone (the N'Sync star portrays a sharp dancing wolf), Laine Kazan and a host of newcomers, this picture entertains very young audiences in the sure way that only the master Kleiser can. Highly recommended for kids between 4 and 10 and their families.