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Hoodwinked

I’m tired of adult-themed cartoons. We’ve got them on network and cable television, online and now an entire film devoted to retelling the tale of Little Red Riding Hood, “Hoodwinked.”

The film opens with the traditional setting; ‘Red,’ as she is known in the film, comes home to find a big-eyed and eared, smelly grandma in bed and seconds later discovers grandma is none other than the big bad wolf. Only this time, the wolf has no desire to eat Red or her grandma. Mr. Wolf is actually a reporter, trying to uncover the mystery of the string of stolen recipes from all the local bakeries in the forest. The majority of the film consists of retelling the events leading up to the wolf in the bed, each from a different perspective. Red, the Wolf, a Woodsman and Grandma’s testimonies all intertwine, yet none reveal the real culprit. So who has been stealing recipes, putting all the furry little bakers out of business? The police team, which includes the captain bear, three little pigs and a long-legged, pretentious frog, wrack their brains to determine the true caper, who has been bouncing under their noses the entire time. It all leads up to the thrilling finale complete with martial arts, explosions and a hyperactive squirrel.

The film’s discourse is the same as films like “Shrek,” a modern twist on old fairy tale classics. But the film lacks much of what made “Shrek” entertaining, besides the budget. For most casual film fans, you won’t see references to Akira Kurosawa’s epic “Rashomon,” like so many critics have pronounced. At best, you’ll notice the similarities to “The Usual Suspects,” but even that will be limited to audience members actually alive when that film was released. It’s like the film is caught in the middle and can’t decide what type of film it wants to be, wholesome family fun or quirky adult comedy. And it doesn’t succeed in blending the two together. What does occur are several badly timed slapstick moments with standard animation neither adult nor child will laugh at.

Luckily, the characters are voiced by some great Hollywood talent. Glenn Close is a convincing Grandma; Anne Hathaway is a cool, sultry Red, and Jim Belushi and Patrick Warburton round out the quartet as the Woodsman and Wolf. But the professional cast cannot save the poor script, which gets lost in references to “Star Wars,” “The Matrix” and “Pulp Fiction” which have already become redundant. Even the visuals seem bland, except for the Wolf, whose hair is finely detailed, almost as if the animators spent half of their time on the Wolf and half with all the other characters combined. I know the producers of “Hoodwinked” didn’t have the Pixar budget for the film, but that doesn't excuse the script and timing of jokes. If the writers focused on keeping the film fresh instead of trying to fit in as many pop culture references as they could, it would have salvaged what could have been a much more enjoyable experience.

Written by: Jason Villemez

Reviewers Rating: 5.5
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