Pre-release special! (A.K.A watched an imported DVD of it)
Name of Film: Hoodwinked (Cory and Todd Edwards, 2006)
Hoodwinked is the first computer animated offering from the Weinstein Company; telling a slightly twisted take on the Little Red Riding Hood fairytale, that has a distinctly adult ring to it. The story begins at it's end, and we find out that the forest's police are investigating a domestic disturbance at Granny's house, involving her granddaughter Red, a big bad wolf, and an apparently crazed woodsman, and as the investigation deepens, it turns out that all of them could be linked to the theft of 'Secret Recipes' from the various cake shops that populate the forest.
The first thing that is truly striking is the quality of the animation. Or the lack thereof. This is perhaps the worst looking computer animation to date, making even Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius look fantastic. Whilst the characters are well animated, there's a certain...poor...quality to the whole thing. I won't go on, as it's almost certainly due to the relative lack of budget. What it does do right is give the whole thing quite a nice feel, almost like old school 2D animation in it's...I hesitate to use the word 'charm' but it'll do, for lack of a better one.
And 'charming' it is, from the take on the Red Riding Hood legend, to the great voice-acting. Anne Hathaway and Glenn Close are fantastic as Red and Granny respectively, and Patrick Warburton (who does Joe in Family Guy) lends a fantastic edge to the Wolf. Also of note is David Ogden Stiers, who plays the Detective Frog heading up the investigation, reminiscent of slightly more watery John Cleese, it brings a great quality to the character; and it's truly something to be heard to be believed. The rest of the cast is decent without being great, and there's a hidden surprise in it that would give away the story if I cited it here.
The story is told in a sort of montage of sub-stories, as Nicky Flippers (the aforementioned Detective Frog) delves deeper into what actually cause the domestic disturbance, and most of them are interestingly done, and consistently funny, with the Wolf's tale being particularly inspired. This slightly tricky style of story-telling is pulled off rather well, and leads to a brilliantly entertaining climax - which involves the year's second (or first, depending on how you look at it) caffeinated squirrel, and this one is arguably infinitely better than Over the Hedge's Hammy. It's main vein of humour is incredibly adult orientated too - and this could be construed as a bad thing if I was reviewing this with kids in mind. Since I'm not, I have to say it's one of the movie's best qualities, and apart from one of the sub-stories, it had me laughing pretty much consistently, from it's film spoofs, to it's slightly high-level wise-cracks, it's all fantastic.
Overall, Hoodwinked is a fairly solid outing, particularly for a directorial debut from the two brothers helming it. It's mostly sharply written, and the storyline is really quite good. And if you can get over the lacking animation quality, there's a lot to enjoy about this, although inevitably you'll probably forget it almost as soon as it's finished. A short, sharp fix of animated comedy, definitely worth a look if nothing better is on!
Rating out of 10: 6