Hoodwinked is a reworking of the old “Little Red Riding Hood” story, done as a 3D computer animated movie. It features all the normal characters – Little Red Riding Hood herself, Grandma, the Big Bad Wolf, and the heroic Wood Cutter. Only… everything’s different.

In the forests there’s a Goodie Bandit around – a bandit who goes round stealing everyone’s… goodies. He / she also steals everyone’s goodie recipes, which is becoming a big problem as everyone’s going out of business. Now Grandma’s goodie recipe book – the most prized of all – is the only one left, and Red is worried. Along the way to Granny’s house way up in the mountains she comes across… wait for it… a Big Bad Wolf, who seems to be very interested in the goodie basket she’s carrying.

Enter Nicky Flippers, the famous (well okay, maybe not famous) frog detective. As each of the characters retells the story in flashback mode, it becomes clear that all is not what it seems, and that there must be a way of combining the very different accounts of what happened to find the truth. And, of course, uncover the true identity of the Goodie Bandit…

There were several things to like about this movie. Firstly, the script was excellent (up to one key point, but I’ll cover that in a minute) – the way the story was turned on its head an retold as a detective mystery with several viewpoints is excellent, really cleverly done. The voice acting is also good, with David Ogden Stiers as Nicky Flipper and Patrick Warburton as The Wolf particularly impressing. There was plenty of action, quite a bit of humour, and generally a good story behind it all. The way they developed the characters was quite fun, particularly the wolf and Grandma. James Belushi (credited as “Jim Belushi” here) was funny as the Wood Cutter, who turned out to be not what you were expecting! The various police creatures were good for a few laughs.

On the other hand, I found Anne Hathaway quite annoying as Red Riding Hood, though this wasn’t a major issue. The visuals and quality of animation weren’t as high as we’ve become used to seeing, though that still doesn’t mean that they were bad. By far the most disappointing aspect of the film however was the fact that the main plot twist could be seen coming earlier than halfway through the film – yes, even by the children in the audience. This really made the ending sequence lack the punch that it could have had. There was a slight over-reliance on pop culture references for the humour as well. I think as well that the baddies in this were disappointing, they just didn’t have any personality at all.

It ran for 77 minutes (for some reason the UK version had 3 minutes cut from the main release – I think it was to get a “U” rating over here, it’s a PG rating in the States). It seemed a short movie but there wasn’t enough plot to make it any longer. I would give you some quotes but it would be difficult not to give away key plot elements so I’m afraid you’ll have to go without.


All in all, Hoodwinked reminded me quite a bit of another recent animated movie, Over the Hedge. (In fact one character bears a remarkable similarity, and a sequence involving him is also very like a similar scene in OTH, but with the release dates of the respective films, these similarities had to be coincidental.) It’s likeable enough, entertaining, quite funny, but lacks the appeal of the best animated movies. I did enjoy it and recommend it, but it’s not one I’d want to see again anytime soon so it’s only 3 stars.


Links

Top Ten Animated Movies

Top Ten Children's Movies



Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: Good for Kids
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.