Hoodwinked! [DVD] [2005] [2006]

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Product Description ------------------- Animated feature re-imagines the classic Red Riding Hood tale to predictably hilarious results. Everyone who was ever a child knows the tale of Red Riding Hood but this picture starts in the immediate aftermath - detectives called to a disturbance at Granny's house. Riding Hood (Anne Hathaway) has not been so easy to molest, it appears - the matter of her black belt in at least one martial art is uncovered. Her granny (Glenn Close), a pensioner of rather dubious moral character, is complicit at the very least. The wolf (Patrick Warburton) is looking surprisingly put-upon here. Forest creatures gather and gossip about what possible set of circumstances could lead to this mysterious and sinister scene: axes, wolves, complicit purple-haired pensioners, girls in capes - what gives? A convoluted plot unfolds and the charges to be laid are miscellaneous: menacing wielding of forestry tools, unlawful entry with intent to snack and breach of the peace. A possible link to the case of the Goodie Bandit - the habitual thief of tasty treat recipes - draws forest detectives, led by chief Grizzly (Xzibit), deeper into the intrigue. .co.uk Review ------------- Hoodwinked fuses the classic fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood with the crisscrossing storylines of film noir--pretty ambitious stuff for a computer-animated cartoon. The cordon off Grandma's cottage and an amphibious version of William Powell named Nicky Flippers (voiced by David Ogden Stiers, M*A*S*H) begins interrogating the suspects: A Little Red in bell-bottoms (Anne Hathaway, Ella Enchanted), a Wolf turned investigative journalist (Patrick Warburton, The Woman Chaser), a snow-boarding Granny (Glenn Close, 101 Dalmatians), and a dimwitted would-be Woodsman (Jim Belushi, Curly Sue), each of whom have very different reasons for ending up in that cottage living room. The visual style of Hoodwinked mixes a clunky, video-game look with an homage to the stop-motion puppetry of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and other Rankin-Bass holiday specials. While sometimes awkward, there are also moments of surreal beauty, such as when a depressed Red wanders through a field of blue and red flowers--and moments of lunatic comedy, such as the Schnitzel song, which is irresistibly bizarre. The Shrek-style pop-culture references grow annoying, but the left-field goofiness of a yodeling goat points toward a far more distinct and delightful comic world. Also featuring the voices of Anthony Anderson (Kangaroo Jack), rapper Xzibit, and an especially witty turn by Andy Dick (NewsRadio) as a deceptively cute bunny rabbit. --Bret Fetzer