Teen Actresses in Too-Serious Roles, or I just don't get Seyfried and Stewart

I just don’t quite get the Amanda Seyfried craze.  She was cute and funny in Mean Girls as the ditzy friend, but I never expected to see her in leading roles.  Maybe for something lighthearted and silly like Mamma Mia, but I just finished watching Red Riding Hood and I have to say, I don’t see what all the fuss is about.  She’s pretty.  She’s sweet.  However she still doesn’t have the maturity and depth needed for a dark role.  Her voice is always light and airy even when the mood is very serious.  I couldn’t really feel the burning love she had for Peter, or her fear in front of the wolf, or her anger at her mother or the searchers.  She didn’t seem to take those things seriously, and so I couldn’t take the movie seriously.  I’m sure she’s a lovely girl and she may be a great actress someday, but right now, I think they’re throwing her into roles she’s not ready for. 

It’s the Kristen Stewart effect.  A lot of people like her.  I’m not convinced.  In Adventureland, the character called for someone emotionless and monotone.  She was perfect.  In Twilight and the sequels, I just can’t feel Bella’s obsessive love radiating from her, or her spirit of sacrifice, or her doubt or fear.  Everything she says is flat.  Again, she’s cute, but there’s no fire or spirit in her.  When I learned she was picked to play Snow White too, I was disappointed.  So many feisty young actress like Alexandra Daddarios, Ashley Greene, or Emily Browning who could really be the strong, armor-clad Snow White, and they fold to Twiteen-pressure.  It’ll catch all the Meyer fans, but as far as making a good movie, they could have gone far better with an unknown. 

I don’t mean to be mean.  Acting isn’t exactly my forte.  I just think it’s disappointing that Hollywood seems to be picking its teen actors by the trends, while sidelining a lot of great, talented girls who don’t yet have the Twilight stamp of approval, so to speak.  Girls like Seyfried and Stewart have roles that fit their particular talents, but in the dark, serious roles they’re being given, they just don’t convince me.