| “Hoodwinked” Takes a Different Spin on an Old Yarn |
By: Heather Leitch, Columnist, “Kids and Entertainment”
On 1/29/06
We think we know the story. The little girl with the red hood; the bad wolf dressed up like granny; granny locked in the closet; the hero woodcutter chopping up the wolf. The explanation is obvious: the wolf was up to no good.
Rating:
3 of 5 ice cream cones! |
But as we are warned at the beginning, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Is this the whole story? How did the woodcutter know to come in? What was really in little red riding hood’s basket of goodies? Was the wolf acting alone?
“Hoodwinked” starts out telling your standard “Little Red Riding Hood” tale. Red (Anne Hathaway) goes into granny’s (Glen Close) house and notices that her “grandma” looks a bit furry. She and the wolf (Patrick Warburton) have a witty take on the “what big teeth you have” exchange, with the wolf complaining that Red is being too critical. Her grandmother falls out of the closet, tied up. It seems Red and granny are goners, but through the windows bursts a huge woodsman, axe in hand.
From here the standard fairytale takes a turn. Red must travel deep into the forest to protect her granny’s recipes from the Goodie Bandit. The story is from four perspectives: Red’s, the wolf’s, the woodcutter’s and granny’s. Each offers a piece of the big picture, and nothing is as it seems: Granny is an avid extreme-sportswoman (which is partly how she ended up tied up in the closet). The woodsman is an actor studying for a part; the wolf is actually an investigative reporter; and Red is dying to get out of the woods and see the world.
“Hoodwinked” is a clever send-up of a standard fairytale. It’s full of entertaining characters: a hyperactive squirrel, a world-weary gumshoe wolf, a friendly rabbit, and a goat with interchangeable horns. These characters have wild chases and fall from heights without suffering injury, making “Hoodwinked” feel more like a cartoon than an animated feature like “Shrek.”
In my opinion, the animation lacks the depth and complexity of other recent computer animation features, but the witty dialog and engaging characters made it an entertaining diversion for a rainy day. My family and I each had characters that tickled our fancy. Mine was the snowboarding, pro-wrestling granny. My son liked the fast-talking squirrel and the bear. My daughter liked Red because she knows karate (my daughter’s sport of choice). My husband liked the sardonic, private-eye wolf.
Morals/discussion topics: My daughter picked up on the “you can’t judge a book by its cover” moral right away, and we discussed how we all assumed that the wolf did it. It becomes clear early on that each character misjudged the others. Red assumed that her granny was home cooking and knitting and that the wolf was the crook. The wolf assumed that Red and granny were colluding to steal the goody recipes. Granny assumed that Red was still a little girl happy to stay in the woods and deliver goods. We also talked about how this relates to real prejudice, particularly topical with Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday having just passed.
We also talked about the movie’s themes like longing for adventure, and letting go. My children pointed out how sometimes adults don’t see how much their kids have matured, and how hard it is to let go of the idea that they have grown up.
There were other themes as well. The woodcutter chopping up forest was chided by the bear detective for ruining the environment. The evil robber was gobbling up competition, driving small business owners out of business. This served as an opportunity to talk about the use of different perspectives to tell a story, and how it is a classic cinematic storytelling technique.
After seeing “Hoodwinked” parents can have a family discussion about how each character told basically the same truths, but had other details to add. We tried telling other fairytales from different perspectives. How would the Cinderella story vary if told from the perspective of the Prince, the fairy godmother, the ugly stepsisters (that nickname alone is enough to make you churlish)? My children each took on a character and said what that character would say. My daughter said the stepsisters would say, “I’m the prettiest.” My son said the prince would say, “Where is Cinderella?” We also thought the prince would be pretty sick of having to look for a bride. We were all curious about the stories the Fairy Godmother would have to tell.
Violence: Very little: chase scenes, cartoonish violence in which no one gets hurt.
Profanity: None.
Sexual content/nudity: None.
Rating:
4 of 5 ice cream cones! |
Worth the price of admission: Yes. It was fun to see the chase scenes on the big screen, and we love going to the theater as a family. It is not imperative, however, to see this one on the big screen. It will also play well on DVD.
I rate it 3 our of 5 ice cream cones.
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