| Product: |
Hoodwinked (DVD) |
| Date: |
14/11/06 (199 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: The story, the characters
Disadvantages: The animation
Animation seems to have taken over children’s movies at the moment. The dominance of Pixar has everyone concentrating on animated fare for the last couple of years, leading to an explosion of cartoons this summer and after. Too many in fact, most of which were not that good at all (Ant Bully and Cars) while the others were all a bit too similar (The Wild, The Barnyard, Open Season). This over influx has meant that some of the ones that were just a little bit different (Monster House – quite scary by all accounts) just didn’t do as well as expected.
Hoodwinked fits into the second category, its animation is quite chunky, doesn’t look as good as most cartoons and is almost wooden in its appearance. Sadly this hassled to a lot of people ending up being disappointed in it, taking it just on how it looks rather than its actual content. You know the saying ‘never judge a book by it’s cover’ well that fits Hoodwinked perfectly because beneath the unusual animation is a terrific little story with shades of King Lear and Rashomon (or for you younger readers the recent martial arts epic ‘Hero’), a story with one basic story that we end up seeing from four different perspectives.
The story starts with Red, in her riding hood, heading out to her grandma’s with some goodies. When she arrives it seems her gran has changed, she seems plastic, has big ears, large furry hands and sharp teeth. Yes the film starts like the classic fairy tale but the opening scene continues as a tied up gran escapes from her closet, the wolf chases the two of them around and the a big Paul Bunyan like axe wielding man crashes through the window. So the story begins and when the police turn up they immediately jump to conclusions, until the lawyer, Nicky Flippers, turns up. Now with common sense prevailing the interviewing of the four begins and we start to find out exactly what happened.
With each person interviewed on their own we get their own takes on what happened during the day. Each story enlightens the viewer just that little bit more, kicking out the preconceived thoughts you formed from the opening scene and playing with the conventions of fairy tales at the same time.
What I loved about Hoodwinked was the story, the clever way each person’s tale interacted with the others, something that seemed odd in one story (a floating gran in Red’s) was explained matter of factly in another, without the heavy signposting normally associated with American movies. The writing was of such a standard that a character that seemed one way in one story was shown to be nothing of the sort in their own one.
Of course whether or not this cleverness is a good idea in a kids film is another matter, you do have to pay close attention to things to follow the first two thirds of the story. Or maybe you just have to pay attention to pick up on the little nuances and kids wouldn’t be interested in these, being more likely to just enjoy the fun aspect of each individual story leading up to the final 3rd where the heroes team up to thwart the dastardly plans of the evil genius and his, or her, henchmen.
I can see kids liking this, but not loving it. The animation is just too ‘carboardy’ and the story a bit too complex, but then maybe the kids might not follow the complex parts and just enjoy the comedy and action sides of it.
I’m also not too convinced about the adults’ side of it either. While I thoroughly enjoyed it that may have been because I wasn’t expecting that much from it, not because it was particularly good, I’m not totally sure. It doesn’t really have that second level to it that a lot of children’s animation has, apart from a number of movie references in it, like Toy Story and Shrek but somehow the story kept my attention. I have to say I am glad that my dad wanted to see this and that I said I would take him, otherwise I would have missed out on this and that would have been a real shame!
Features the voices of Anne Hathaway (Red), Glenn Close (Gran), James Belushi (The Woodsman), Patrick Warburton (The Wolf), David Ogden Stiers (Nicky Flippers)
Summary: A fun little animation that is great for adults, oh and kids!
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