As Logan Hill pointed out in his review, Red Riding Hood is a lot like Twilight (and not in a good way). And nearly 100 percent of the critics who reviewed the film (logging in at 8 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) agreed! But being a lot like Twilight doesn’t preclude Red Riding Hood from also being a lot like many other unflattering things (bad movies, they contain multitudes). So please, take a look at how Red Riding Hood also reminded critics of renaissance fairs, the Burning Man festival, and an M. Night Shyamalan movie.
Red Riding Hood is like Burning Man!
“Nevertheless, the foolish villagers, who have beheaded an ordinary wolf by mistake, choose to have a big party instead, with a lot of Burning Man-style chanting and drumming.” —Globe & Mail
“As to sensuality, Amanda Seyfried as You-Know-Who makes a delectable treat whether heaving her bosom or boogieing down in a bacchanal that’s more Burning Man than Bruegel.” —New York Times
Red Riding Hood is like the renaissance fair!
“With its puckeringly sweet color scheme, Red Riding Hood resembles a Renaissance Faire beset by a computer-generated wolf.” —Chicago Tribune
“Mourning, in this village, apparently takes the tone of Gossip Girl at the Renaissance fair.” —Time
“Well, OK, then. But as easy as it may be to mock <Red Riding Hood for its Renaissance Faire 90210 flavor and its yonder-is-the-castle-of-my-father dialogue … the movie has a certain campy integrity that gradually grew on me.” —Salon
“The surprise is that this strip-mall Renaissance Faire has been brought to the screen by Catherine Hardwicke.” —Globe & Mail
“Quality: Amateur night at the Renaissance Fair.” —Star Tribune
Red Riding Hood is like an M. Night Shyamalan movie!
“Some of Hardwicke’s choices seem misguided, like the picturesque storybook village built of Lincoln Logs that M. Night Shyamalan would reject for being too corny.” —Salon
“Instead, it’s M. Night Shyamalan-style bad, which means despite all the unintentional snickers, you feel trapped.” —New York Daily News
’A fairy tale set in a chintzy, overlit Dark Ages — call it the Slightly Dim Ages — Red Riding Hood makes you miss the stark realism of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village.” —Boston Globe
