I still really enjoy animated movies and still see many when they are released. For many years now, there have been several animated movies released each year, which makes it nice for people who do still like them. The newest one to be released is Hoodwinked.

At first, it didn’t seem like Hoodwinked would be that original or different since it was showing the story of Little Red Riding Hood. After showing Red arriving at the house where her Granny lived and confronting the Wolf, it became clear that this version of the story would be a little different. A Woodsman burst through the window and became involved right after Granny hopped out of the closet she was tied up inside. The scene changed after that to show police swarming all over Granny’s house. She, Red, the Wolf, and the Woodsman were all in handcuffs. Chief Grizzly was ready to arrest them all until Nicky Flippers arrived and started asking questions, trying to get the whole story, something that Chief Grizzly really didn’t seem to be interested in.

A thief that was dubbed the Goody Bandit, had been stealing the recipes from all the goody stores in the woods, forcing them to close. Granny ran a very popular business and her recipes hadn’t been stolen. Red made deliveries for the business. Nicky took a turn with each of them, listening to their story. Red believed that the Wolf had been following her because he was the bandit. He was actually an investigative reporter working on a story about the Goody Bandit. The Wolf believed that Red and Granny were involved as a way to take out their competition. Granny had been out competing in a winter sports competition. The Woodsman was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Nicky pieced together the information and came up with a suspect.

Hoodwinked isn’t the first animated movie to take characters from well-known children’s stories and modify them a bit. Both of the Shrek movies did that in a different way. Shrek was based on a book for children and he was the main character in the movies. The other main characters, Fiona and Donkey, weren’t as well known before the movies. Many different classic fairytale characters were shown throughout both movies as minor characters. The movies were mostly poking fun at the classic characters and even seemed to be taking jabs at Disney. That wasn’t going on in Hoodwinked. The characters of Red, Granny, and the Wolf were modified some without it seeming like they were making fun of the originals from the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Frankly I’m glad that didn’t happen because it got old to me in the Shrek movies. Some people might not like the way the story was modified, but I think it worked well for the movie.

Most of Hoodwinked was spent sharing the different stories of Red, the Wolf, the Woodsman, and Granny before they all ended up at Granny’s house. The stories showed that the characters did have some secrets. Each character went through different things that were sometimes interpreted wrong by other characters. For example, Red thought that the Wolf wanted to steal the recipes because he was always around. The Wolf thought that Red and Granny were the thieves because of a few things he observed. Assumptions were made that did complicated certain situations. The stories overlapped each other at different places. I thought that was interesting. Some people may not like how that was done and might even find it boring seeing everyone’s story.

I thought that Hoodwinked was very cute and funny. Some animated movies made in the last few years, like Shark Tale, have relied heavily on pop culture references for humor. That can get very old very fast, depending on the way it is handled in the movie. Thankfully that wasn’t done in Hoodwinked. It also didn’t contain any of the rude, gross humor that has been prevalent in many recent animated movies, something else I’m thankful for. Some of the humor in the movie was a bit silly, which I expected since it is an animated movie. The silly things didn’t bother me at all. Several things made me laugh throughout the movie. I thought the character of Japeth the goat, who was only in a few scenes, was very funny. He had detachable horns and many varieties of them that he could attach. Twitchy, the little squirrel that worked with the Wolf, also made me laugh several times. I thought how coffee affected him was very funny.

The fact that there was a bandit running around the woods stealing recipes added a small amount of mystery to Hoodwinked. Many characters were suspects and had the opportunity to steal the recipes. Each story that was shared added at least one clue. During one of the stories, one character said something that made me figure right then that they were the goody bandit and it turned out that I was right. It seemed very obvious to me, but I was still able to enjoy the rest of the movie. It might not be as obvious to children. Red and the Wolf did have a fight that was discussed twice. Late in the movie, Red, Granny, and the Wolf confronted the bandit and some henchmen working for the bandit that resulted in more fighting. Red and the bandit fought before the others arrived. That fight did have some humorous moments in it. There were a few things done throughout the movie that added some action. I’m guessing those things and the few fights are why the movie was rated PG. There really wasn’t anything in there for parents to worry about, though younger children may be bothered by a few things.

I was pleasantly surprised when Red started to sing during her story. The previews hadn’t let it known that some of the characters would be singing. Anne Hathaway has a beautiful voice. Not many people may realize that she can sing. She sang a little bit in Ella Enchanted as well. I was disappointed that Red only sang one song. Several other characters also had short songs. They all went well with what was going on in the movie at the time of the song. Not all of the characters sang and there were only a few songs in the movie.

Hoodwinked was a computer animated movie. The animation was good, but it was not as well done as it has been in many other recent computer animated movies. It is no where near as good as Pixar’s newer movies. The people looked sort of like plastic. The faces really weren’t as expressive as I’ve gotten use to seeing. Red and Granny only had three fingers. I know that is a minor thing, but it bugged me. The hair of the different characters never moved at all. Red’s hair especially looked like it was actually a helmet shaped to look like hair. In some of the scenes, red’s cape fluttered in the breeze while nothing else was affected by it. In one scene the grass was moving in the breeze while not one hair on the body of the Wolf moved. The way the cape and the grass moved was well done, but it was inconsistent since nothing else was moved by the wind. A river was shown in a few scenes and that did look very well done. I didn’t think that the animation was awful. It just doesn’t compare to most other recent animated movies, so people shouldn’t expect to be blown away by the animation. The movie was still very entertaining, so people shouldn't let the fact that the animation has some problems keep them from watching the movie.

Red, Granny, and the Wolf were all characters from the story of Little Red Riding Hood. All three of them were shown as being much different than they were in the original story. The movie was only 80 minutes long, so there wasn’t a lot of time to spend developing the characters. I did think that the main characters were developed enough. Anne Hathaway provided the voice for Red. Her voice fit the character well. I really enjoyed Hathaway in The Princess Diaries movies and Ella Enchanted. I didn’t even recognize the voice that Glenn Close did for Granny. It did sound like the voice of an older woman. I last saw her in The Stepford Wives (2004). I really liked the voice that Patrick Warburton did for the Wolf. It just fit the character perfectly. He has done voices for many other animated projects, including a small part in Chicken Little. I really liked his character in The Emperor's New Groove.

In addition to the characters that were present in the original story, there were several new characters in Hoodwinked as well. Boingo was a cute little rabbit that lived in the woods. He had worked for the Muffin Man until his recipes were stolen. He also ran a cable car up the mountain. I was pretty sure when watching the movie that Andy Dick was doing his voice and it turned out I was right. James Belushi did the voice for the Woodsman. He wasn’t the brightest character. Twitchy was the little squirrel that worked with the Wolf. Twitchy talked a mile a minute, so it was hard to understand him at times. Cory Edwards, one of the writers and directors, did Twitchy’s voice. I do wonder if he really talked that fast, or if a recording was speeded up.

There were several characters milling around Granny’s house that were police officers. All of those characters were created for the movie. Chief Grizzly was in a hurry to arrest someone and take credit for catching the goody bandit. He seemed to resent it when Nicky Flippers arrived and started listening to what the suspects had to say. Xzibit, who I saw in Derailed a few months ago, did the voice for Chief Grizzly. His voice sounded familiar when I saw the movie though I couldn’t think of who it was. David Ogden Stiers provided Nicky’s voice. Nicky seemed to be a more cultured character than some of the others, and the voice fit perfectly. Stiers has done voices for many animated movies, including Beauty and the Beast. All of the others characters and voices were fine.

Voice Talent

Anthony Anderson - Detective Bill Stork
James Belushi - Woodsman
Glenn Close - Granny
Andy Dick - Boingo
Cory Edwards - Twitchy
Todd Edwards - Sandwich Man
Benjy Gaither - Japeth the goat
Anne Hathaway - Red
Chazz Palminteri - Woolworth the sheep
David Ogden Stiers - Nicky Flippers
Patrick Warburton - Wolf
Xzibit - Chief Grizzly

Cory and Todd Edwards - Writers and directors

I really enjoyed Hoodwinked. The animation could have been a bit better, but the movie was still very entertaining. This is a good family movie that parents shouldn’t mind seeing with their kids. People that like animated movies should give this one a chance. I’m sure I’ll be adding this one to my DVD collection. I did just read that planning has started for a sequel, which doesn’t surprise me since the ending did leave that possibility open. From the little I’ve read so far, the budget will be larger so they can improve the animation in the next one.

Anne Hathaway Movie Reviews
The Princess Diaries ~ The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement ~

Animated Movie Reviews
The Emperor's New Groove ~ Sleeping Beauty ~ Lilo & Stitch ~ Treasure Planet ~ Brother Bear ~ Home on the Range ~ Valiant ~ Chicken Little ~ Beauty and the Beast ~ Monsters, Inc. ~ Finding Nemo ~ The Incredibles ~ Ice Age ~ Robots ~ Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas ~ Shrek ~ Shrek 2 ~ Shark Tale ~ Madagascar ~ Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit ~ Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius ~ The Polar Express ~ Looney Tunes: Back in Action ~ Tim Burton's Corpse Bride ~



Recommended: Yes