HOODWINKED
US, 2006, 81 minutes, Colour.
Voices of Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Jim Belushi, Patrick Warburton, Anthony Anderson, David Ogden Stiers, Chas Palminteri, Andy Dick, Corey Edwards, Xzibit.
Directed by Corey Edwards.
2006 has been a year for more animated films than usual. Pixar released cars. There have been many (too many?) animal stories, Curious George, Over the Hedge, Ant Bully, Barnyard, Open Season, Happy Feet. The most inventive film early in the year was the entertaining Monster House. Now comes Hoodwinked, billed as the True Story of Red Riding Hood, and not at all what we might have expected. It is good fun, an enjoyable twist on the fairy tale.
What if Red Riding Hood herself were a feisty young girl who would not accept the Wolf’s word for his disguise? What if the Wolf were not a villain but a potential hero? What if the Woodsman was really an aspiring movie star? And what if Grandma was really a secret extreme sports aficionado? That would certainly be a different scenario!
The plays on words in the title suggest tongue-in-cheek cheekiness.
That is what is on offer. Young directors, the Edwards brothers, have written a funny and savvy screenplay where the Wolf-threatening episode is investigated by a detective frog, Mr Flipper (voiced in superior British tones by David Ogden Stiers) and the main players give their versions of events (and reveal their secrets) in a manner familiar in movies from Kurosawa’s Rashomon.
It appears that there is a thief in the forest, stealing all the goodies that Grandma makes and Red Riding Hood delivers. The story then becomes not only an investigation but a police detection and chase thriller till the culprit is exposed.
Lots of good lines. Quite a number of amusing songs and lyrics to illustrate the characters. The voice cast is top notch with Glen Close as Grandma, Anne Hathaway as Red Riding Hood, Jim Belushi as the Woodsman and Patrick Warburton as the Wolf.
Littlies might find the plot too complicated but the film is family friendly and parents should enjoy the smart and clever style.
1.An entertaining animation feature? 2006 and the many films about animals, animated animals? The variations with this film? The humans? The background of the fairy tale – and audiences being hoodwinked by it?
2.Comment on the style of affirmation, the forest, the mountains, the characters?
3.The importance of the voices, the star cast, their comic abilities, speaking, singing, the wry humour, the musical score?
4.The title, the pun in the title, the in-jokes and cultural jokes throughout the film?
5.The screenplay and the revisionist presentation of a fairy tale? Audience familiarity with the basic story and characters? A different way of telling the story, of creating the characters, the detection about what actually happened, Inspector Flipper, and the change of perspective as each character gave their particular point of view and version of what had happened? The audience trying to put together the truth?
6.The character of Nicky Flippers, dapper, the voice, skill in detection, listening to the stories?
7.The story of Red, the delivery girl, her granny and the bakery business, her strength of character, very forward, her explanation about the bakeries, the economic troubles? The mysterious Goodie Bandit? The stealing of the recipes? Her travelling with Boingo Bunny, to Granny’s, hiding the recipes, falling from the cable car, stalked by the wolf, rescued by a yodelling goat, the wolf at Granny’s house?
8.The wolf, sounding cynical, revealing that he really was an investigative reporter, trailing the Goodie Bandit? Meeting Red, the woods, setting the trap for her in the cottage, his belief that she was in league with Granny, trying to monopolise the market in snacks and bakery goods?
9.Kirk, the woodsman, dim-witted, his telling the truth that he was an actor, practising wood-chopping, wanting an audition, wanting a callback, the falling tree rolling him into the cottage?
10.Granny, secretive, her revelation that she was an extreme sports addict and the visualising of this? Attacked by a mob, the European heavies, the snowboarding tournament, her being tangled in the parachute, trying to escape, falling down her chimney, into the cupboard from which she was released?
11.The reaction of the police, Flipper? Everybody being released?
12.Boingo Bunny and his personality, style, kidnapping Red again, revealing that he is the bandit, wanting his own business? The snowboarders as his accomplices?
13.The peril, Red in the cable car, the dynamite, sending it down from the mountaintop, Granny to the rescue, sliding down the cable, the heavies in pursuit?
14.Granny helping Red escape, the heavies captured by the police?
15.The happy ending, the woodsman getting the role, Nicky Flippers employing Granny, Red and the wolf to work for his detective agency?
16.A playful presentation of Red Riding Hood’s story – with variations to entertain both adults and children?
