The original “Hoodwinked” opened nationwide in January of 2006 and it’s always been a very special movie to me. Not only is it one of the funniest and most underrated animated films of the past 10 years but it’s also the first movie that I reviewed. So when I heard, back in the Fall of 2009, that there was going to be a sequel, naturally I was excited.
If you’re not familiar with what happened next here’s a brief recap: A month before the scheduled release date of “Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil”, the studio (The Weinstein Company) pulled the film. Apparently there were some major issues with Kanbar Entertainment, the production company. Burger King continued with their toy promotion for the film, even though it wasn’t in theaters and, according to news stories, might never make it to theaters.
But finally came the news, earlier this year, that “Hoodwinked Too” would be released on April 29th. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely. And now it’s out on DVD.
The story picks-up where the original left off. Granny, the Wolf and Twitchy are all working for Nicky Flippers at the Happily Ever After agency, the group that makes sure all fairy tale stories have a happy ending. Meantime, Red is off training with the Sister Hoods, where young women are taught Kung Fu and how to bake goodies
An evil witch has kidnapped Hansel and Gretel and when the HEA tries to rescue them Granny gets captured, too. After one major twist, the plot simply becomes the good guys trying to defeat the bad guys.
This is a case where a script is both good and bad. The dialogue among the characters is sharp. There are a lot of funny lines, wise-cracks, inside jokes about fairy tales, pop culture and the original “Hoodwinked”. If you didn’t see the first film or saw it and didn’t like it, you probably aren’t going to enjoy “HToo” as much as I did.
But it’s not a great film by any means. The story itself is weak. The original film was a “whodunit” and it kept you guessing to the end. Here the story is very straight forward, with no imagination. Hard to believe that the same writing team from the first film also wrote this one.
The animation style has changed a bit. The characters are a little softer (even in 3D) and at times early in the film the voices and mouth don’t match perfectly. There’s no excuse for that. Most of the very talented voice cast from the first film is back, including Glenn Close, Patrick Warburton, and David Ogden Stiers. Hayden Panettiere takes over for Anne Hathaway as Red, and Bill Hader and Amy Poehler join the cast as Hansel and Gretel. Much of the dialogue is very fast and often characters are talking right on top of each other so you have to listen closely to get all the lines and jokes. And the 3D is totally unnecessary.
“Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil” is rated PG for some brief language and mild cartoon violence. Young kids will laugh at the silly parts but won’t get most of old movie, TV show and pop culture references (I didn’t get all of them). Again, if you didn’t see or like the original you’re not going to have a great time watching this sequel, and that goes for people of all ages. But if you liked “Hoodwinked” and have been waiting for “Too” there’s enough here to satisfy you.
On “The Official Kid Critic Report Card”, “Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil” gets a C+. It’s clearly not as good as the original (which I gave a B+) but it’s great to have these characters back again. I only wish they were in a better story. That would have been a Happily Ever After ending for everbody.