Once Upon a Crime Parent Guide

In the fairytale kingdom of Clair de Lune, Little Red Riding Hood (Kanna Hashimoto) has set out on an adventure to gain more life experience and explore new lands. On her travels, she meets Cinderella (Yuko Araki), who hopes to attend that night’s royal ball to get her mind off the bullying she endures at home. With the help of some semi-competent fairies, the two women, now dressed for the occasion, make their way toward the castle. Just as the evening is getting started, the king’s hairdresser is found murdered. Now with all the attendees as suspects, Little Red Riding Hood must use all her deductive skills to solve the crime.

I like camp. I like movies that don’t take themselves too seriously and are in on the joke. But when that tone goes too far it has a tendency to fall off into incomprehensibility. That is unfortunately the case in Once Upon a Crime. Every single story beat and character choice is silly, which makes for a frustrating viewing experience as characters react to things in incredibly irrational ways, and the story moves forward only through contrivance. Campy movies can have some leaps of logic, but these writers decided to throw logic out completely. Some elements are very fun, such as the incompetent fairy godmothers, or the evil stepmother’s over-the-top performance. Those elements aren’t enough to save this tedious production that goes on far too long.

That said, the premise is cute, and the design team did a great job with this fairy tale world. The costumes are fun, if a little cheap, as are the sets. Having a new telling of a classic fairy tale that centers Little Red Riding Hood as a strong, intelligent heroine is a welcome change of pace for the well-trod story. Although many of her deductions take huge leaps in logic, it is entertaining to watch her take charge of the investigation and put the pieces together.

Although I found this film to be overly long and frustrating from a story perspective, there are some amusing moments. I can’t say I hated every minute, just most of them. The very low levels of negative content are welcome, but I can’t imagine young children enjoying this movie’s slow pace and long monologues. I’m sure there is an audience for Once Upon a Crime, but it won’t be a wide one. The story might have a happy ever after, but my evening sure didn’t.