By RORY MOORE
Tiger Media Network
After the game-changing impact of 2001’s “Shrek,” many studios tried to capitalize on its success by producing animated films that emulated its style: unafraid to push boundaries, packed with pop culture references, a soundtrack dominated by pop songs, witty characters that satirized the traditional fairy tale formula, and humor that appealed to both children and adults. One of those films also had a twist on the genre, but in a clever manner that made it stand out.
“Hoodwinked!” (2005) retells the Little Red Riding Hood story as a police procedural, where the main characters give their perspectives on the plot’s conflict. Co-written and directed by Cory and Todd Edwards, the film is one of the earliest independently financed CGI productions in its genre.
Red Puckett (Anne Hathaway) attempts to deliver goodies to Granny Puckett (Glenn Close), the owner of a successful pastry business who lives a secret double life as an extreme sports athlete. While venturing in the woods, Red encounters the Big Bad Wolf (Patrick Warburton), an investigative journalist following the trail of the Goody Bandit, whose thefts he suspects the Pucketts are tied to. Simultaneously, Kirk (Jim Belushi), an actor who aspires to join a yodeling group, struggles to make ends meet while operating a schnitzel truck. Each character’s path puts them on a collision course with each other at Granny’s house, where most of the plot is set.
The police seal the house to investigate the incident. Chief Grizzly (Xzibit) suspects each individual of being the Bandit, fueling his eagerness to arrest them all before Frog Det. Nicky Flippers (David Ogden Stiers) arrives to continue the case, bringing his suave, patience, and subtle determination to find the truth. Flippers sits each suspect down to gain their perspective on what happened, finding inconsistencies in their stories and connections that the rest of the bunch miss.
Each character’s recount serves the plot’s basis of telling the story in a nonlinear narrative, like other crime films like “Pulp Fiction” and “Memento.” Their questionings take the audience on a journey through their wild and uncanny adventures: Red travels on a mining cart with a singing goat, Wolf assumes various disguises while investigating, and Granny evades the Bandit’s henchmen while competing in a skiing tournament. Their shenanigans provide a connective tissue to the plot, like Wolf accidentally blowing up the tracks Red and the goat traveled on, and Granny causing an avalanche visible to the other characters.
“Hoodwinked!” was troubled by its tumultuous development and shoestring production budget of $8 million. It was co-produced by Kanbar Animation and Blue Yonder Films, and its animation was created in Autodesk Maya at a studio in the Philippines. While the Edwardses enjoyed creative control, budget constraints prevented them from making changes to the plot when production began. “Money doesn’t just buy you more talent and machinery,” Todd said. “It buys you flexibility on a story level. We had no such luxury, and so in a way, you’re watching our first version of the movie.”
The filmmakers had to work with inexperienced animators and hire foreign companies to provide visual effects, lighting, and composition to save costs. Since they were forced to fast-track the filmmaking process due to limited financial resources, the Edwardses approached their film as an imitation of stop motion animation to salvage its quality.
“Hoodwinked!” was a modest hit, debuting at No. 2 at the box office and grossing $110 million worldwide. Critics gave it a mixed reception, with some praising it for its storytelling and humor, while others criticized it as being derivative of “Shrek” due to its musical elements and fairy tale tropes.
Retrospectively, the film had all the right tools needed to be a classic: an all-star voice cast, funny characters, and memorable scenes. So, what holds it back from being as highly regarded as “Toy Story” or “Finding Nemo”?
What holds it back the most is its animation quality. Every character appears plastic, and their movements are too jerky to imitate stop motion, making it look outdated and stiff compared to higher-quality animation. This was the most glaring result of its troubled production, and Roger Ebert blasted it for looking “like a PlayStation 2 cutscene” in his review. Visual quality is part of a film’s storytelling language, and it distracts viewers from their emotional connection with characters when done poorly, as “Hoodwinked!” fell victim to.
Furthermore, it received little brand support from its distributor, the Weinstein Company, whose independent studio status restrained the global push it needed to launch a franchise or become a cultural phenomenon like its counterparts from studios like Pixar and DreamWorks, and the failure of its 2011 sequel, “Hood vs. Evil,” permanently prevented this from happening.
Despite the holdbacks, the musical comedy has its redeeming attributes in its clever narrative, catchy tunes, and quotable lines that make it hold up as a cult favorite.
Its plot is structured like a mystery, adding layers of suspense and uncertainty that raise the stakes to make it feel like actual police work, which is more common in crime thrillers than animated films. Its unique way of storytelling offers an ingenious trick of keeping audiences of all ages intrigued, and it gives a fresh take on fairy tale lore by being an action comedy disguised as a musical. Had it been taken up by any of the “Big 5” major studios and given more time to polish its quality, it would have been propelled higher in pop culture ranks and recognized for its artistic commentary on truth and perspective.
Other redeeming attributes are its characters, particularly Japeth (Benjy Gaither) and Twitchy (Cory Edwards). Japeth, the singing goat, prides himself on his preparedness with the goofy tune “Be Prepared” as he takes Red to Granny’s house while chaotic events unfold, comedically causing him to sing, “I do not feel prepared!” Twitchy, Wolf’s rambunctious squirrel photographer, is objectively the best character in the film with his fast-talking, zany personality, and a show-stealing scene where he goes nuclear after drinking coffee. Had the film been more successful, he could have easily been up there with Donkey and Scrat as beloved sidekicks in kids’ movie lore.
Overall, “Hoodwinked!” is an ambitious crime mystery that the whole family can enjoy despite its flaws. It’s not hailed by film historians, but it holds its own by being beloved by Millennials and Gen Zers who hold fond memories of it from childhood and pass it on through alternative platforms, which is where it maintains its own legacy.
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