Of Wolves and Girls in Hoods: Walt Disney

Before he ascended into legendary status as a producer and entertainment industry mogul, Walt Disney was himself an animator and created his own cartoons. Based on his "Little Red Riding Hood" adaptation, we think he made the right decision to move from being a creator to the guy who hired and managed the creators, and eventually to managing those who managed those who hired the creators. He had great talent for the latter, but not so much for the former.

Case in point: Walt Disney's adaptation of "The Little Red Riding Hood" fairy tale.

Little Red Riding Hood (1922)
Director: Walt Disney
Rating: Four of Ten Stars

Little Red Riding Hood leads to Grandmother's house, but the Wolf sets his lustful sights upon her.

"Little Red Riding Hood" takes the well-known fairy tale and updates it to modern (well, 1920s modern) times. It's an animated short film of historical significance because it's an early work of Walt Disney--the first of six he made for the Laugh-O-Gram series. (We already reviewed the last one he made... because we're all organized and stuff.) Beyond that, there isn't much to recommend you spending time on it; there are some good ideas here, but they are mostly badly executed.

The opening sequence with a creative donut-making method goes on for too long, and it's a shade of things to come: There isn't a portion of this film that doesn't outstay its welcome, no matter how cute or clever it seems at the outset, be it Red Riding Hood's dog-powered car, the Wolf making his way to Grandmother's house, or the climactic rescue sequence where the Wolf ultimately gets what's coming to him. If this six-minute film had been three or four minutes long, it may have been far more entertaining. As it is, it just drags on and on and on...

And that's a real shame, because the ideas in each those bits are actually quite good and had all sorts of potential. The aforementioned donut-making sequence starts out funny and ultimately leads to an amusing, if a little macabre, gag, but it drags on and on. Gags that take place during the driving sequences featuring either Little Red Riding Hood or the Wolf are amusing, but they are also padded beyond their ability to be entertaining.

The one saving grace of the film is its villain. We don't get to see much of him, but what we do see paints him as an obnoxious womanizer with cool magical powers. He's also clearly a rapist who intends to force himself on Little Red Riding Hood, but she fend him off in an epic battle that literally threatens to blow the roof off Grandmother's house. Of course, we don't get to see any of it this fight--only the outside of the house in which it takes place, because that might actually be entertaining.

If you have a few minutes to waste, you can check out Disney's "Little Red Riding Hood" by clicking below.