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Hoodwinked
Hoodwinked starts off by showing the end of the story, which turns out to be the middle of the story, but you only find that out later. The main players in the movie, Red, Granny, The Wolf and Kirk all get detained by the police and each is interviewed. During this process, you gradually piece together the entire story, and a number of surprises are revealed.
The interviews start, and at this point you’re still convinced that it’s going to be a fairly normal cartoon. Then the singing starts. The first song is like Julie Andrews in crayon, and that’s the least dodgy moment. The musical numbers include a yodelling goat, a singing bunny and The “Schnitzel on a Stick Song” You have to see them to truly get an appreciation of the dodginess.
There are a great number of vignettes including a group of porcupines dressed up like the village people, a XXX and a Matrix homage, and a hyperactive photographer squirrel on caffeine. Ultimately, the mystery is resolved and the story ends happily for everyone that you care about. This is despite the fact that Kirk ends up in “Der Happy Yodelers”, but it makes him happy, even though I feel that yodelling is cruel and unusual.
Dodginess
Normally I won’t give cartoons more than a 4 on the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man scale as a certain level of dodginess is expected. This one, however, manages to achieve a 5. It’s hard to pinpoint the moment that pushes this movie up to the maximum rating. The schnitzel song and yodelling goat, the “battle of the iron cage gladiators” champion granny as well as the squirrel after being fed caffeine could compete for that privilege. However, the Broadway-esque musical number in which the Bunny’s plan is revealed, complete with choreography by the evil henchman is the moment that pushes this one over the edge.
Rewatchability Rating
Even just having watched the trailer I had a good feeling about the rewatchability of this one. And I wasn’t disappointed. Every time I see it I find something to appreciate, and it isn’t always something new. Even the musical numbers grow on you after a while, and for that, this one gets a 5 on the rewacthability index.
Most Memorable Quote
It was almost a tough choice, with gems like “Oh good, More singing” and “Use the hood Red, Use the hood.” But it wasn’t even close once the bunny started dishing out commands. “Keith, darnit change your name.. Please.. That’s not scary and I’m embarrassed to say it. Boris, try that. Keith, you know, oh watch out for Keith.” We allknow the importance of scary henchman names, and this just points it out in bright shining flashing neon letters.
Final Thoughts
Don’t expect the slick, polished visual experience that you would get from a Pixar presentation as this was done on a much smaller budget. However, the script carries this one, and the animation is more than watchable, making this one a must see ifor everyone.