Hoodwinked
Bizarre is the word my companion exclaimed at least four times while watching this film, and there’s really no better descriptor for the Weinstein Brothers’ freshman animation feature. It is entertaining, it may or may not really be suitable for children, but it certainly is odd. This is a good thing, escaping from the formulaic Disney or Warner Brothers animated feature (Pixar has yet to encounter such pitfalls), but it certainly makes the film difficult to market or describe.
Hoodwinked is a Rashomon-style retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood story, adding a police investigation of the climactic events of the well-known story (think the dramatic entrance of the woodsman with his axe) and a kooky but charming subplot involving a recipe bandit terrorizing the goodie-loving denizens of the Forest. We’ve seen multiple narrators relate a story (weekly on Lost, even) but the central idea of Hoodwinked is that no one is a reliable narrator of their own story. Assumptions about motive are thrown out as new information arrives, and the story actually gets more hilariously convoluted and silly, to our delight.
Don’t get me wrong, this is no police procedural. The three little pigs are beat cops mucking up the investigation. Mr. Flipper is a frog with literally the voice of Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers, so it doesn’t drive you crazy the whole movie) smoothly parsing the facts as he receives them. Why is he called Mr. Flipper? Not the obvious reason, but a Family Guy-esque random flashback revealed reason. The movie is all over the place, trying to be a lot of things, but mostly it is slowly and cleverly building a kooky set of coincidences (my favorite of which involve a cursed, yodeling goat who is always prepared) that end up with the huge misunderstanding the cops were investigating.
That isn’t even the actual crime that should be under investigation - the Goodie Bandit is the real mystery. Adults worked it out around the same time, kids worked it out a little later, but everyone was laughing on the way there. Naturally, there are little and large movie homages and references, as well as super crazy random acts of senseless wackiness. We have a little classic physical humor matched with the post-modern self-awareness of a police procedural show, and some fairy tale humor tossed in for good luck.
But it’s totally bizarre. Cory and Todd Edwards, on the strength of a quirky little indie about Tulsa, have gotten their big screen break making this odd little computer animated playscape. The animation is kind of muscularly stiff, with strange character design, but it complements the tale well. They have also filled the picture with original songs by themselves (and apparent pal Ben Folds), which at times feels like a crass “buy the soundtrack kids” pushy undercurrent, and other times is the best choice possible. The song “Red is Blue” was great. There are only really two “songs,” the rest is soundtrack, so don’t freak out. Any “musical” element is actually in there to make fun of singing. Check it out, it’s interesting.
MPAA Rating PG
Release date 1/13/05
Time in minutes 80
Director Tony Leech, Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards
Studio Weinstein Company
