LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND HER FRIENDS (1961)
aka Caperucita y sus tres amigos
Article 3909 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 4-17-2012
Posting Date: 4-27-2012
Directed by Roberto Rodriguez
Featuring Marcia Gracia, Manuel “Loco” Valdez, Santanon
Country: Mexico
What it is: The madness continues

The wolf, now working as a guard for the village, finds himself torn between his animal instincts and his desire to keep true to the pact he has made with the villagers. However, when one of the villagers plots against the wolf, he goes wild and becomes a threat to the village once more. Can Little Red Riding Hood save the day?

The Mexican LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD must have been quite popular; not only did it spawn two sequels, but the wolf and the skunk appeared independently in a non-series movie called THE QUEEN’S SWORDSMAN. Personally, I thought the original was a jarringly bizarre piece of insanity; this sequel is relatively sedate. Which is not to say that this movie doesn’t have some head-scratching moments of strangeness; it isn’t every day you get to see a movie where a skunk delouses a wolf. What surprised me is that it actually took off just where the first movie left off, with the wolf forgiven of his crimes and employed as a guard of the village. Furthermore, the movie actually seems to be story-driven, insomuch as it remains more or less focused on the story of the uneasy relationship between the wolf and the villagers; the original movie wanders all over the place. Granted, you still have to put up with the wolf and the skunk singing, but at least it balances this out with a scene where the wolf and the skunk each accuse each other of being a horrible singer (they’re both right). It could be argued that this is the better movie of these two, but, truth to tell, this one isn’t near as memorable as the first one. On the other hand, I still have the third movie of the series to contend with, called LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE MONSTERS. Something tells me that one is going to fly off the goofy meter.