Hoodwinked
Studio: Blue Yonder Films
Rated: PG
Website: http://www.hoodwinkedthemovie.com/
Release Date: 2006-01-13
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, James Belushi, Anthony Anderson, Patrick Warburton
Director: Tony Leech, Todd Edwards, Cory Edwards
Screenwriter: Tony Leech, Todd Edwards, Cory Edwards
Music Score: John Mark Painter
WorkNameSort: Hoodwinked
Our Rating: 3.50
Though an animated spoof of a classic fairy tale seems pretty extraneous in the wake of two Shrek movies, Hoodwinked shows some self-vindicating spunk and intelligence before it succumbs to a shortfall of ideas. It’s Rashomon set deep in the woods, with the major players in the Little Red Riding Hood case retelling their sides of the sordid tale for an amphibian investigator (David Ogden Stiers). The application of Chandleresque pulp language to old-fashioned goodie basketÐgrabbing inspires many wonderfully snarky moments until a humorless bit that shows Granny (Glenn Close) as an extreme-sports addict stops the movie dead. It never really recovers. This could also be the first full-length cartoon in history in which the voice-over talent utterly outshines the mediocre visuals: Even a blindfolded audience could find reason to adore Patrick Warburton’s hilarious turn as a wolf with a hidden agenda. (PG)
This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2006.