《暮光之城》导演新作：《小红帽》

Catherine Hardwicke, the director of "Twilight," is back with "Red Riding Hood." The film stars Amanda Seyfried as Valerie, a girl from old times.

The village has an agreement with the local werewolf*. Each full moon they offer up an animal sacrifice*, but when Valerie's sister suffers a deadly attack, the villagers form a werewolf posse*.

As in "Twilight," our heroine is torn between two men. Valerie loves Peter (Shiloh Fernandez), who looks as if he could easily morph* into a werewolf, but she is being coaxed* into an arranged marriage with Henry (Max Irons). When werewolf hunter Father Solomon (Gary Oldman) is hired by the villagers to beat the beast, he offers up the unpleasant news that the werewolf lives as a human among them.

Once the hunter drops this bombshell*, "Red Riding Hood" turns into a terrible whodunit*. Hardwicke and her screenwriter David Johnson make a point of singling out every villager with a speaking part as possible werewolf material.

The werewolf's identity, when finally revealed, is not such a big deal because the steps leading up to the result aren't very logical*. What should have been an "Aha!" moment is more like "Whatever*."

The real commercial draw here, of course, is the "Twilight"-ish triangle* consisting of* Valerie and her fighting beaus*.

Hardwicke tries to turn a children's fable into something for young adults. But her approach to a famous fairy tale isn't exactly news.

Except Oldman, who at least is funny, and Julie Christie, who has a small role as Valerie's hippie* grandmother, the others act terribly in this film.

In commercial terms, none of this may matter. Audiences looking for another "Twilight" will love this one, too.

werewolf 狼人

posse 巡逻队

morph 变形

coax 哄骗

bombshell 令人震惊的事

whodunit 侦探小说

logical 符合逻辑的

whatever 随便

triangle 三角恋

consist of 由……组成

beau男朋友

hippie 嬉皮士