HOODWINKED!
2005
PG
PG
Hoodwinked! is a 2005 animated film directed by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards and Tony Leech that gives a little bit of a twist to the age-old story of Red Riding Hood and the wolf. In this version, Red (voiced by Anne Hathaway) is on her way to see her Granny (voiced by Glenn Close) in order to talk about keeping her recipes safe from the Goody Bandit who's been stealing recipes from every critter in the forest. When she reaches Granny's house, however, she finds a Wolf (voiced by Patrick Warburton) in her bed disguised as the old woman. A fight ensues, and it's only broken up after a woodsman (voiced by Jim Belushi) comes crashing through the window in an apparent rage. We immediately cut to a police investigation at the home. When special investigator Nicky Flippers (voiced by David Ogden Stiers) arrives on location, he questions each of the persons involved, and a deeper and more nefarious plot is soon uncovered...
I heard about this flick back in the day when it was first released, but I never had the opportunity to actually see it. The premise had seemed relatively interesting, and although I never expected anything brilliant, I figured it'd be a good watch. The first thing you're going to notice is the very different-looking animation. It took me out of the film in the beginning, but after a while, I grew accustomed to the strange look. I'm not sure how I feel about the animation, but the physical look of a film (i.e., animation or special effects) does not - and should not - affect my personal grade for a movie, and it really shouldn't change your opinion either (here's looking at all you Avatar fans - terribly movie with great special effects is still a terrible movie). But I digress... The film looked a little awkward from the get-go, but it eventually settles into your consciousness, allowing you to fall into the story.
We actually get a pretty good story, but I did figure out the final resolution pretty early in the film. We're given a twist a minute as the four "suspects" give their version of the day's events, and once it's all said and done, we do get a rather satisfying ending. The story progresses rather well, and the laughs do come relatively consistently. The dialogue is pretty good, especially for some of the characters. For example, the Wolf and his trusty friend Twitchy (voiced by Cory Edwards) are both given fantastic one-liners throughout the film; in addition, Nicky Flippers brings a certain intelligent bravado that definitely draws you to him. Each character is actually well-written, even if it's all a little too goofy to be considered "great."
There's no one who's truly offering a brilliant bit of voice acting (although Warburton definitely comes close), but we do have some big-time names in the film, as I'm sure you've already noticed. In addition to those aforementioned names, be on the listen for the likes of Anthony Anderson, Andy Dick, Chazz Palmentiri and Xzibit.
I'd also like to make mention of the music in the film. We've got a couple of original songs that prove to be quite good ("Great Big World" and "Top of the Woods" were my personal favorites), but the entire soundtrack is actually quite original.
Overall, Hoodwinked! is a fun little film that's probably worth giving a watch at some point or another. Apparently there's a sequel due in theaters on April 29th, but I hadn't heard about it until tonight. Will I see it? Perhaps, but I definitely won't be racing to the theater to be the first in line. Like I said, this movie's a little too goofy to be considered great by any means, but it's still fun for it's nearly-80 minute run-time. Give it a go, I suppose.
Movie Review Summary:
I heard about this flick back in the day when it was first released, but I never had the opportunity to actually see it. The premise had seemed relatively interesting, and although I never expected anything brilliant, I figured it'd be a good watch. The first thing you're going to notice is the very different-looking animation. It took me out of the film in the beginning, but after a while, I grew accustomed to the strange look. I'm not sure how I feel about the animation, but the physical look of a film (i.e., animation or special effects) does not - and should not - affect my personal grade for a movie, and it really shouldn't change your opinion either (here's looking at all you Avatar fans - terribly movie with great special effects is still a terrible movie). But I digress... The film looked a little awkward from the get-go, but it eventually settles into your consciousness, allowing you to fall into the story.
We actually get a pretty good story, but I did figure out the final resolution pretty early in the film. We're given a twist a minute as the four "suspects" give their version of the day's events, and once it's all said and done, we do get a rather satisfying ending. The story progresses rather well, and the laughs do come relatively consistently. The dialogue is pretty good, especially for some of the characters. For example, the Wolf and his trusty friend Twitchy (voiced by Cory Edwards) are both given fantastic one-liners throughout the film; in addition, Nicky Flippers brings a certain intelligent bravado that definitely draws you to him. Each character is actually well-written, even if it's all a little too goofy to be considered "great."
There's no one who's truly offering a brilliant bit of voice acting (although Warburton definitely comes close), but we do have some big-time names in the film, as I'm sure you've already noticed. In addition to those aforementioned names, be on the listen for the likes of Anthony Anderson, Andy Dick, Chazz Palmentiri and Xzibit.
I'd also like to make mention of the music in the film. We've got a couple of original songs that prove to be quite good ("Great Big World" and "Top of the Woods" were my personal favorites), but the entire soundtrack is actually quite original.
Overall, Hoodwinked! is a fun little film that's probably worth giving a watch at some point or another. Apparently there's a sequel due in theaters on April 29th, but I hadn't heard about it until tonight. Will I see it? Perhaps, but I definitely won't be racing to the theater to be the first in line. Like I said, this movie's a little too goofy to be considered great by any means, but it's still fun for it's nearly-80 minute run-time. Give it a go, I suppose.
Movie Review Summary:
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