Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil

Six years after "Hoodwinked!" we get "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil." Hayden Panettiere took over the duties as the voice of Red Riding Hood while Glenn Close remained as the voice of Granny, Patrick Warburton was kept as the voice of The Big Bad Wolf, and David Ogden Stiers stayed on as the voice of Nicky Flippers.

Red went off to Hood training to become a ninja master of sorts, which left Granny and the Wolf as the star agents of the HEA (Happily Ever After) agency. Granny and the Wolf were trying to stop Verushka the Witch (Joan Cusack) from eating Hansel and Gretel (Bill Hader and Amy Poehler) when Granny was kidnapped. It seems that Granny was the true target because of her knowledge of a secret truffle recipe that imbued its consumer with unstoppable powers.

This sequel wasn't as good as the first which is normal for sequels. I don't think it was as terrible as the IMDb rating. It was a little more adult than I would have liked, but it wasn't appalling. Hansel and Gretel were funny and the hoodwinking was creative. As far as sequels go I think this was more than adequate.

Picking up the story where the previous one left off (more or less) this film continues a fairy tale world where Red Riding Hood is not quite as helpless as she is in the original tales and where Granny is something else entirely. The characters are, to an extend, the same as they were in the first film - but quite sadly that is the end of the comparability of the two.

Where the original film is a quirky "whodunnit" that attempts to solve a crime by having the audience sit through several viewpoints on the events that happened this sequel is a sequence of standard events that seems to be stolen from several other films - and stolen poorly at that.

As a comedy it doesn't work - good scenes are few and far apart. As a twisted fairy tale it doesn't work either - it's not convoluted enough by far. As an animation film it doesn't work either - it's bland and many scenes feel overly easy.

All in all, an insult to the first film and I only didn't feel cheated out of paying because my kid did seem to like it (he's never seen the original though) 5 out of 10 sequels too many

"Why are you reading that book? Nobody reads books anymore! Movies are always better, especially sequels." Red (Panetiere), Granny (Close), Twitchy and the Wolf are back. This time they are part of a detective agency that is set up to give everyone their happy endings. When an evil witch kidnaps Hansel & Gretel it is up to Red and the gang to find and rescue them. Being an adult and father I am required by law to watch cartoons with my kids. Some of the recent ones were a struggle. This one I was more excited about then they were. The first one was hilarious and this one held up very well. This is a "Shrek" like cartoon in the way that 90% of the jokes are geared toward grown-ups. There is a "Silence Of The Lambs" and a "Goodfellas" reference thrown in, which most kids will not understand. To be fair though, my kids laughed at the slapstick aspect and it kept my 2 year old interested, so it is good for kids as well. When compared to the first one, I will have to say that they are equally funny. This one had more adult humor then the first one though. Overall, a great movie for adults that kids will enjoy. I love these movies. I give it an A.

Would I watch again? - Absolutely. I would buy these movies.

*Also try - Hoodwinked & Megamind

The first Hoodwinked had poor animation, but was made on a budget and had a fantastic script. It was witty, clever, and most of all likable. Hoodwinker Too seems like it was created by a new batch of film makers that completely missed the point. It wasn't. The original writers return, but I don't know what happened to the humour. The animation isn't great, but that could be excused by quality content. What isn't excusable is the awful shot composition. There's a fight scene that looks like a 2D side- scrolling platformer. The jokes are few and far between, and as the movie tries to expand on its forest origins into a big city, it only shows the lack of funds and resources, as you see the same characters over and over again. The voice work isn't terrible, but it's hard to care towards the end. The original had clever mystery with a Rashomon narrative. Here it's all linear, and tries to spoof too many action movies.

The original Hoodwinked was a clever movie, giving us a twist on the Little Red Riding hood fable, making it into a crime caper. It was well written and very funny.

The sequel seems uninspired and poorly conceived. Nothing clever here. A few witty moments strung together into an adventure movie that isn't nearly as clever. Some characters were just thrown in because they were liked (the goat) and didn't serve any other purpose, other characters just seemed odd and uninteresting (the harp), and the main characters, while true to their original conceptions, were stuck in a weaker, more convoluted plot.

At least the first half of the movie had its funny moments. The last half of the movie seemed tired and uncreative.

I am not in the movie's primary demographic however (being 45). My sons, ages 4 and 7, enjoyed the movie very much and laughed quite a bit. So if you are a parent, take your kids. They'll probably enjoy it. If you're not a parent and you like computer animated features, don't set your expectations very high.