‘Once Upon A Crime’ (2023) Netflix Movie Review - A Reimagined Fairy Tale

The film starts with an introduction of Little Red Riding Hood and her embarking on a journey to Spenhagen for an adventure. She meets Barabara, a witch who instead of beautifying her shoes makes them slimy. It is when Little Red Riding Hood goes to wash them up, she comes across Cinderella. They both decide to go to the castle for the ball. Cinderella wanted the Prince to notice her and Little Red Riding Hood accompanied her.

With Barabara and Tekla’s magic (the two witches), they’re able to get dressed up and even get a carriage and a driver. Things were going by smoothly until they realized that their carriage run over a person. It was no one else than Mr. Hans, the infamous Royal hairdresser. They eloped the scene thinking it was their fault. When the ladies arrive in court for the ball, the news of the murder opens up and hence starts the search for the murderer.

Once Upon A Crime stars Kanna Hashimoto in the role of Little Red Riding Hood. She looked stunning in this role. With her crimson robe, brown eyes, and red hair, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that she looked adorable. Yuko Araki as Cinderella didn’t have much part to play and even in the scenes she was seen in, she could have done much better. There appeared to be half-baked efforts from her side.

The total duration of the movie is 107 minutes and with that time duration in hand, the makers have covered up pretty much everything. They managed to tell the original story of Cinderella with a twist of crime and another character to it. Little Red Riding Hood’s character is added to Cinderella’s story and she replaced her as the main character. For a change, it was nice seeing Little Red Riding Hood wearing the hat of a detective.

Her methods of solving crime, and ability to put forth her opinions were exemplary. In a crowd full of “trying to look good” women, she was the only one who could be called “beauty with brains.”

The title of this series is apt as they mix a fairytale (which usually starts with ‘Once upon a time’) with a crime. Now, we come to the point of whether the film can impress the audience or not. I’d say that the little girl in me was happy to watch this twist. Also, for the first time, I think that a character so powerful as Little Red Riding Hood was added. Young children will love this film and for us adults, it worked fine.

Once I started watching the film, its rhythm made me forget the amount of time that was passing by. The chaos created towards the end and how they explained the crime was a little bit messy. That part could have been done better as I had to watch the scene twice to understand what happened. Apart from the last scene, everything worked fine.

There are two good things added in Once Upon A Crime, a charismatic character such as Little Red Riding Hood and the people who realize that beauty isn’t the only parameter to judge a person. In the kingdom shown in the film, people based their opinions based on how a person looks. Unlike the Disney fairytales, it was a good change and they even delivered the same message at the end.

The actors in Once Upon A Crime did a great job and the various twists added by the writer make this film worth a watch. At the start of the movie, we also get to see Barabar and Tekla. They are witches and the former one hasn’t perfected her spells yet. This also tells us how imperfections are also good sometimes and the reality check that things can not be always perfect is also served. You can enjoy this movie with your family; this one being a light watch can be seen by viewers who want to watch something fun in their spare time.

Final Score – [6.5/10]
Reviewed by - Riya Singh
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Publisher at Midgard Times