Die Rotkäppchenverschwörung

Despite low-budget animation, the newest feature by the Weinstein Company, "Hoodwinked," is saved by some silly animal and human characters, as well as great writing and hilarious jokes.

Basically, it's the story of Little Red Riding Hood as told from the vantage point of Red (voice of Ann Hathaway), the Big Bad Wolf (Patrick Warburton), Granny (Glenn Close) and a dimwitted, axe-wielding woodsman (Jim Belushi).

The four are arrested, accused of stealing goodie recipes and interrogated by a long-legged frog, Inspector Flippers (David Ogden Stiers). Each suspect tells a different story that somehow cleverly ties the whole event together. In other words, it's like a version of Kurosawa's "Rashomon" as produced by computer animators who could not get work at Pixar, Disney or Dreamworks.

Seeing the studio's press release, I noticed the poor computer work and thought this would be another "Valiant," but the crisp dialogue and truly funny situations made me laugh almost all the way through this film, which is director Cory Edwards' feature debut.

It's also a much more entertaining picture than "Chicken Little" or "Shark Tale" could ever hope to be. And while the puns are pretty much aimed at adults, the kids will enjoy the many animal characters, such as pigs as policemen (get it?!), a singing, hillbilly goat (Benjy Gaither), a squirrel on speed (director Edwards), a Huggy bear-type stool pigeon sheep (Chazz Palimeri) and a tricky little bunny, Boingo (Andy Dick).

This film runs 85 minutes and opens for wide release on Friday, Jan. 13.

I'm not going to give Hoodwinked a harsh review like so many others. This is primarily a kids movie, nothing more, nothing less. All the kids in the cinema that I was in were roaring with laughter and I must admit at times I was also laughing out loud. Some of the older people and parents will enjoy the references it makes to other movies and fairy tales, although they are dumbed down for the suited audience.

The plot is almost like an animated, kids version of Pulp Fiction. Many different stories (told by Little Red Riding Hood, The Wolf, The Woodsman and Granny) intertwine.

The voice actors all do a great job with their characters and the animation, although nowhere near the best, was still pretty good. The characters were all hilarious, the funniest being a singing goat and a nutty squirrel (who I think was high).

3/5.

A few months ago I was speaking with a friend who runs a drive-in movie theater. He asked me what movies I may want to see when he opens for the season. I remembered seeing ads for "hoodwinked" but never caught it in the theater so I told him I'd like to see it. He remembered the film and played it last weekend.

As it turned out, I could only bring my 9 year old daughter and 2 year old son because my wife had some sort of meeting. I really wasn't looking forward to seeing it with a 2 year old but surprisingly he watched the entire movie! That was a first for him. My 9 year old girl loved it laughing out loud every few minutes. Her favorite characters were the singing goat and the squirrel. I thoroughly enjoyed it too and will buy the DVD on my way home today so I can show the rest of the family (and see it a few more time myself).

Thanks for making such a wholesome and clean movie that is NOT lame in any way at all. It was genuinely clever, original, entertaining and funny, very very funny. I sincerely hope you make movies like this for years to come and that each one is more successful. Thanks!

This is a very fast paced movie that plays to the two levels successful animated films play to: The kids are entertained, but so are the parents. There are zingers that come out of nowhere, some but not all of which are shown on the trailer. Some of those zingers will only catch the attention of the adults in the house, but don't detract from kids' enjoyment. But some will get all generations to laugh, like the "Run!!!" sequence from the trailer. A four second bit.

I was at a screening attended by families in the business, but mostly kids. Hard laughter throughout the movie. As for quality of animation, which was clearly done on the cheap, you don't notice it. The basic story quality is there. I think it is also possible that this film may nab a best song nomination. Some very catchy original tunes, well orchestrated and well sung. All in all, worth the trip to the theater, and worth buying the DVD.

Sequel probable.

Hoodwinked is an ultra low budget affair compared to the average 3D CGI-animated film (it was shot for a reported 15 million vs 70 to 90 million for films like Finding Nemo or Shrek 2). If you want a fairer comparison in terms of animation quality, you'd have to look at something like Jimmy Neutron (30 million budget).

What really made the animation work in terms of style is...the style. Hoodwinked almost looks like a revved up Rankin-Bass stop motion animated film in the vein of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Once you get absorbed in the world of Hoodwinked, you stop comparing it to Pixar and simply enjoy the magic little world the creators obviously put so much care into creating.

And the film is indeed absorbing! It starts a little slow, but once the story picks up steam, it is non-stop fun. It's clear that the writers weren't going to let a lower budget stop them from writing a clever and often laugh-out-loud funny script. My kids, aged 12, 8, and 3, giggled throughout the film. Your kids will LOVE the squirrel, the granny, and the singing goat, and adults will pick up more culture references in terms of homage scenes (not in adult content) to pictures like Fletch, Kill Bill, and the Matrix.

One thing comes across very clearly in Hoodwinked--love of the craft. So many seemingly throw away gags end up being very important to the story later on. Enjoy this little gem of an "indie" animated film, and imagine what these young guys could do with a bigger budget next time around!