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Review #3 of 365
Film: Hoodwinked [PG] 81 minutes
WIP: $9.00
When 1st Seen: 13 January 2006
Where Viewed: Lincoln Square Cinemas, Bellevue, WA
Time: 6:10 p.m.
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DVD |
Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf? My apologies, but that had to be gotten out of the way right off the bat. It was Friday the 13th, and my usual policy is not to go out of the house on Friday the 13th unless absolutely necessary. According to my pledge to see a movie every day, in a movie theater, I was compelled to go out, against my better judgment, into the cold, rainy night. From the fine selection of films playing at the shiny, brand new Lincoln Square Cinemas in Bellevue, WA, I made the decision to see the newly-released, animated film, Hoodwinked. Given the uneven results of recent digitally animated films, I did not know entirely what to expect from Hoodwinked. Sometimes the animators fall so in love with their technique they forget that great stories sell movies not great technology. So, let’s start with the technology. I would give the film’s animators a lot of the $ in the $9 W.I.P. I gave this film. Probably like $4 of it. They have not really done much that we haven’t seen before. Their chosen style was to make the characters appear to be carved out of wood—which was a kind of neat technique for a story that takes place in the woods. There are some really cool woods/forest effects as well. Technologically speaking, the movie does just fine. Now for the story ($2). Well, the story is entertaining as we see what happens after the time of the Wolf pretending to be Little Red’s grandmother from the perspective of four different characters in the story. There are some very nice touches in the plot here and there to keep the attention of the grown ups. Overall, though, the story does not really teach us very much about life, and that, I thought was the point of fairy tales. Where is the moral to this story? It might be, don’t typecast? I wasn’t certain. Given that the story doesn’t take us to new places like we saw in Monster’s, Inc., for example, I need a bit more from the story. There are some very funny parts, and the voice-talent is stupendous—give them the other $3 making the full $9. Still, overall, the film just isn’t quite a great as it could have been. And, then, of course, there is the singing. Some of the songs in the film are there, seemingly simply to fill time. I apologize, that’s harsh, but honestly. The film pokes a bit of fun at the need for there to be carefully placed and timed songs in animated films, but somehow doesn’t notice these basically insignificant tunes within itself.
Wrapping things up, Hoodwinked is a nice movie. It will not land in the legendary column of Shrek or Finding Nemo. It was a good way to spend Friday the 13th as it was not terribly scary. All of the kids I saw in the theater seemed to like it okay. And the grown ups will find sufficient inside jokes to keep their attention for, at least, 40 of the 93-minute stated running time. If nothing else, see if you can figure out who is the voice of the bunny—no peeking at the IMDB or the credits. If you get the bunny, then try to figure out the smooth talking informant sheep. I’ll give you a hint—he usually plays a mobster.
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Hoodwinked (Widescreen Version) [DVD] (2005) DVD
Hoodwinked [DVD] (2005) DVD
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