Hoodwinked Too! : Hood vs Evil

Welcome to another episode Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is Hoodwinked Too! : Hood vs Evil.Directed by Mike Disa. Written by Mike Disa, Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards & Tony Leech.

Review #117

MPAA Rating: PG for some mild rude humor, language and action.

Runtime: 86 min

Cast

Glenn Close - Granny Puckett

Hayden Panettiere - Red Riding Hood

Cheech Marin - Mad Hog

Patrick Warburton - The Big Bad Wolf

Joan Cusack - Verushka the Witch

Bill Hader - Hansel

David Ogden Stiers - Nicky Flippers

Amy Poehler - Gretel

Cory Edwards - Twitchy

Martin Short - Kirk the Woodsman

Brad Garrett - The Giant

Andy Dick - Boingo the Bunny

David Alan Grier - Moss the Troll

Tommy Chong - Stone

Phil LaMarr - Wood / Ernesto

Wayne Newton - Jimmy 10-Strings


Sequels are always a risky venture. They are especially risky when it comes to animated films. Even more so when the first film wasn't a great overall success.

This is the case here.

Plot

Red Riding Hood is training in the group of Sister Hoods, when she and the Wolf are called to examine the sudden mysterious disappearance of Hansel and Gretel.


The original Hoodwinked had a very clever concept. It told the Red Riding Hood story very akin to  Roshomon. For those of you who never saw Kurosawa's greatest (shame on you for not) the film was told via the point of view of the main characters. Red Riding Hood, The Big Bad Wolf, Granny and the Woodsman. It was a very smooth and funny way to tell a very old fairy tale. It was a great re-imagining.

This sequel is nothing like that and that's why it fails.

Instead of going a similar route they tried to make this more of a straight laced narrative. The problem with that is the immediate disconnect with ALL of the main characters. The original gave the audience the chance to experience plot and character development. Each version of the characters story gave you a chance to see their back story and what led to their eventual meeting. That's not the case here. After 6 years between films you are supposed to remember who everyone is and what their involvement to the story is. They try to take you back with a tiny flashback that sums up the first film but it just washes over the main points and moves on.

Very shoddy.

To make matters worse when you find out what each character is up to now.....you don't care. You care even less about the new characters that are introduced in this installment. It's so bland and underwhelming that it just plays off as lazy writing. The pop culture jokes are lame and placed very poorly throughout the story. They stand out for all the wrong reasons. To wrap it up the voice casting was poorly done as well. The original had some A list talent behind the mic. The main person missing was Anne Hathaway as Red Riding Hood. She was replaced by Hayden Panettiere. Just didn't fit. Hathaway played Red with just the right amount of innocence to go with her tough girl bravado and ability. Here, Panettiere plays her like a spoiled, inconsiderate adolescent.

I realize that this is rather harsh for a kids film. If you have kids and this is still playing in your area then it's probably worth a look since they won't care about what I care about. But since I loved the first one so much I expected a much better stab at bringing me back to that world. I was sadly disappointed on so many levels. I just wonder why it took 6 years to make this one. There clearly wasn't a lot of creativity flowing around the writer's room.

On the 5 star scale. Hoodwinked Too! : Hood vs Evil gets 1 star. With a "Save The Loot" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today. Up next is Priest.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"