Subverting the Brothers Grimm or the “Tales of Hoffman” is nothing new; Bruno Bettelheim tore the cover off the Freudian underpinnings of classic fairy tales in 1976, and films such as “Enchanted” and “Shrek” make gentle sport of their clichés. Still, the films of David Kaplan feel unique in their arty, sexualized takes; a new DVD, “Little Red Riding Hood and Other Stories,” collects three, each around ten minutes long.
The title entry is the most recent (1997) and the best known, thanks to its star, a 17-year-old Christina Ricci. This movie comes just before “That Darn Cat, Ricci’s last kiddie film, in her filmography, so it’s the perfect time for her to embody the innocent but knowing lass on her way to Grandma’s house through a black-and-white, expressionistic landscape. The wolf is a lithe, leotard-clad modern dancer, and a bit nastier than the one we’re used to: “a slut is she who eats the flesh of her granny,” informs Quentin Crisp’s arch narration (the film is dialogue-free). There’s talk of “pee-pee” and “ca-ca” as well; yes, it’s that strange.
The other two films are nearly as skewed. After seeing 1992’s “Riding Hood,” it’s easy to anticipate where “Little Suck-a-Thumb” might be headed. In it, a mother warns her young son (played by the adult little person and Oregon native Cork Hubbert) that sucking his thumb as he falls asleep will summon a thumb-chopping monster. It does, and it taunts the child: “Let me see your thumbs—why, they’re all wet! Do they really taste so good? Let me try one…” It should be clear there’s plenty of quotable dialogue in these films. “The Frog Prince” (1994) features a petulant young girl whose parents insist she honor her promise to share a bed with an amphibian. It has a happy ending.
1992-1997 release, 30 minutes total, viewed on DVD
Grade: B+
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