Une fille à croquer

"Any resemblance to a Charles Perrault 's fairy tale would be purely coincidal", a warning reads,just after the cast and credits.

It's exactly that : a modern story of the little girl who lived in a village near the forest whose mom asked her to visit her granny as it had been a long time they 'd seen each other.

Madame Chaperon's daughter has grown into a lovely girl looking good enough to eat -hence its title -in her red riding cloak ( although her clothes were brought into fashion.)But mom's aim in sending her beloved daughter is to bring back jewels to grandma.As a precaution, this precious stuff wil be concealed in some kind of galette des rois ( cake eaten in France on Twelfth Night) ,no matter if it's not in January.

Francis Blanche's screenplay is good in the first hour (although the songs are mostly filler) ;then it becomes repetitive in its last third .Blanche himself is the weakest link of the cast ,hamming it up all along the movie .On the other hand, Serge Regianni -often cast as the baddie :see Carné's ,Clouzot's ,Daquin's or Duvivier's movies- is excellent as the "wolf ",even though the meeting with his so called granddaughter is not fully exploited .

Gaby Morlay also shines in a double role :mom and grandmom ; the students have outstayed their time in college ,most of them are nearing 30, two of them are a bit thin on top ,and one is even bald.

After scenes with the gendarmes which drag on,Blanche found a smart ending by introducing another Perrault's fairy tale, "Le Petit Poucet " (Hop-on -My -thumb).

By and large, I second the first reviewer.