Deconstructed fairy-tales and animation go hand in hand and have produced fantastic films such as THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE Christmas, SHREK, and SHREK 2.
HOODWINKED literally rips the entire fable of Red Riding Hood apart, borrowing from RED RIDING HOODWINKED, RASHOMON, PULP FICTION and even TOUCH OF EVIL. The events that led to Red Riding Hood's eventual confrontation with the Big Bad Wolf are told not from one but from several points of view as the main players -- Red, the Wolf, the Woodsman, and Granny -- are interrogated by the police who are investigating a crime from one "Goody Bandit". Every confessions reveals a lot more about each character and the more that is disclosed, the closer they are to catching up with the thief.
A sharp reconfiguation of a classic fairytale has the unfortunate aspect that it looks flat and clumsy. It's as if the entire production team felt the rush of having to turn out their product and in the process forgot to complete it. The laughs that come from its setting, while frequent and spot-on at the beginning, become clichéd after a while and makes the film look much longer than its brief 80 minutes. The animation, frankly, was bad. Here is where it fails the most. There are many moments when Red Riding Hood's lips don't match her voice and in two sequences she looks like a pre-production image. Ditto for Granny and the entire landscape-as-book sequence. A musical number feels placed for the hell of it, and I found myself guessing whodunit well before the revelation. And that's bad.
Oh well... maybe next time or when it reaches DVD and will look considerably improved. Kids will love it, though.... Aren't they the ultimate critics for a film like this?
HOODWINKED literally rips the entire fable of Red Riding Hood apart, borrowing from RED RIDING HOODWINKED, RASHOMON, PULP FICTION and even TOUCH OF EVIL. The events that led to Red Riding Hood's eventual confrontation with the Big Bad Wolf are told not from one but from several points of view as the main players -- Red, the Wolf, the Woodsman, and Granny -- are interrogated by the police who are investigating a crime from one "Goody Bandit". Every confessions reveals a lot more about each character and the more that is disclosed, the closer they are to catching up with the thief.
A sharp reconfiguation of a classic fairytale has the unfortunate aspect that it looks flat and clumsy. It's as if the entire production team felt the rush of having to turn out their product and in the process forgot to complete it. The laughs that come from its setting, while frequent and spot-on at the beginning, become clichéd after a while and makes the film look much longer than its brief 80 minutes. The animation, frankly, was bad. Here is where it fails the most. There are many moments when Red Riding Hood's lips don't match her voice and in two sequences she looks like a pre-production image. Ditto for Granny and the entire landscape-as-book sequence. A musical number feels placed for the hell of it, and I found myself guessing whodunit well before the revelation. And that's bad.
Oh well... maybe next time or when it reaches DVD and will look considerably improved. Kids will love it, though.... Aren't they the ultimate critics for a film like this?