Hoodwinked! (2005) starring Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, James Belushi, Patrick Warburton, Anthony Anderson, David Ogden Stiers directed by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, Tony Leech Movie Review

Hoodwinked! (2005)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Hoodwinked! (2005) starring Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, James Belushi

Little Red Rashomon Hood

Having arrived at Granny's home in the woods Little Red notices that Granny doesn't seem to be herself with big eyes and so on. The next thing she knows is that granny is in fact a wolf, the real granny tumbles out of the closet bound and gagged and a big woodsman leaps in wielding his axe. Then the police arrive including detective Nicky Flint who questions each of the suspects to try and work out what happened and all is most definitely not as it first seemed.

Is there anything more annoying than a clever idea for a movie which feels undervalued by a production which leaves you struggling to enjoy the movie as much as you should? That is how I feel about "Hoodwinked!" a refreshing idea to take the classic fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood and give it the Rashomon treatment by showing us the same story from each characters perspective. Even with it being another animation which does a fairytale of course it makes you think of "Shrek" especially as it tries to deliver the same sort of fairytale in jokes but the idea of Rashomon-ing up Little Red Riding Hood is enough that it should stand on its own two feet.

Hoodwinked! (2005) starring Patrick Warburton, Anthony Anderson, David Ogden Stiers

The sad thing is that whilst "Hoodwinked!" has a good idea and in fairness twists the classic fairytale in some entertaining ways the final product is less than spectacular. Part of the reason is because it feels safe, I can't remember a single joke which was borderline for a U certificate movie and you sort of want it to be a bit naughty and deliver something which will make adults or at least teenagers laugh more than oblivious young children. The other reason is that whilst there is a decent collection of well known names including Anne Hathaway and Glenn Close to voice the parts most of them are forgettable. In truth the only one which really worked for me was Patrick Warburton whose deep John Wayne-esque tones was perfect for the Wolf.

But in truth the thing which is really wrong with "Hoodwinked!" is the look and rather feeling like I was watching an animation it felt like I was watching a computer game. The characters move in that slow clunky style which looks cheap and sadly the attention to detail especially when it comes to the background is lacking. Maybe for young children the cheap looking animation won't be an issue but for grown ups it will. And that leads me to another issue as with the Rashomon style storyline it feels like this should appeal more to grown ups but that visual style is purely for children.

What this all boils down to is that whilst I loved the idea behind "Hoodwinked!" the end result disappointed me. It also left me confused as to who the target audience really is and as an adult the look really let the movie down.


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