December 16, 2005 (Los Angeles, California)
January 13, 2006 (United States)
Hoodwinked! is a 2005 American animated musical mystery comedy film directed and written by Cory Edwards along with Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech, and produced by Katie Hooten, Maurice Kanbar, David K. Lovegren, Sue Bea Montgomery, and Preston Stutzman. It retells the folktale "Little Red Riding Hood" as a police procedural, using backstories to show multiple characters' points of view. Produced independently by Blue Yonder Films with Kanbar Entertainment, the film features the voices of Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, Jim Belushi, Patrick Warburton, Anthony Anderson, David Ogden Stiers, Xzibit, Chazz Palminteri, and Andy Dick.
Hoodwinked! was among the earliest computer-animated films to be completely independently funded. Working apart from a major studio allowed the filmmakers greater creative control, but also restrained them economically. Due to the film's low budget, its animation was produced in the Philippines with a stylized design inspired by stop motion films. The Weinstein Company did not sign on as the film's distributor until near the end of production, and while the company had several roles recast with higher-profile actors, it otherwise made few changes to the film. Structurally, the film was inspired by non-linear crime dramas, such as Rashomon and Pulp Fiction. It was released shortly after the first two installments in the successful Shrek series, which accentuated the fairy tale parody genre of which Hoodwinked! is a part. Hoodwinked!, however, intentionally deviated from the Shrek series in its style of humor and in certain plot elements. This was in part based on Cory Edwards' concerns over exposing children to the high level of cynicism often found in the genre.
The film was released by the Weinstein Company in Los Angeles, California, and Philadelphia on December 16, 2005, for a one-week engagement before expanding nationwide on January 13, 2006. Critical reception to the film was varied; although its script and voice performances were praised by many reviews, its animation quality was heavily criticized. The film was a commercial success, earning over thirteen times its less-than-$8 million budget. A sequel, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, was released in 2011 to negative reviews and failed to match the financial success of the first film.
Storyline
Red Puckett arrives at her grandmother Abigail's house, where Wolf W. Wolf has disguised himself as Red's Granny. As Wolf attacks Red, Granny, who has been tied up, jumps out of a closet just before ax-wielding woodsman Kirk bursts through the window. The police arrive and Detective Nicky Flippers questions everyone.
Red explains she was delivering goodies for her grandmother's pastry business when she discovered a threat from the mysterious Goody Bandit, who has been stealing recipes, causing pastry businesses to shut down. Red had set out to take the Puckett recipe book to Granny's mountaintop home for safekeeping, but fell out of a cable car owned by her rabbit friend Boingo and encountered Wolf, who asked her suspicious questions. She then met the singing goat Japeth, who accompanied her to Granny's house where she found Wolf waiting to ambush her.
Wolf reveals that he is an investigative reporter who was searching for a lead on the identity of The Goody Bandit, and had reason to believe that Granny and Red were the culprits. Wolf and his hyperactive squirrel assistant Twitchy confronted Red in hope of solving the Goody Bandit mystery. When they failed to detain Red, they made haste for Granny's house, arriving ahead of Red via a shortcut known to Boingo. They found Granny already tied up in the closet. Wolf disguised himself as Granny, planning to trick Red into revealing the truth about the Goody Bandit.
Kirk explains his appearance at Granny's house was a coincidence; he is an aspiring actor trying out for the part of a woodsman in a commercial. After his schnitzel truck was robbed by The Goody Bandit, he was consoled by Boingo, then received a callback for the commercial. He spent the rest of the day getting into character by chopping trees, until at sunset a tree collapsed and pushed him through the window of Granny's home.
The investigation turns to Granny, who is secretly an extreme sports enthusiast. Earlier that day, she had competed in a ski race, with Boingo spectating. Granny had been attacked by the opposing team before winning the race. She learned that The Goody Bandit hired the team to eliminate her. While parachuting back home, she got tangled in the parachute strings, which snagged on her ceiling fan and threw her into the closet.
Feeling betrayed by Granny's secrecy, Red wanders off alone. Flippers deduces that Boingo, having been present in all four stories, is the Goody Bandit. Red notices Boingo sneaking in and stealing the recipe book. She follows him to his cable car station hideout where she confronts him but is overpowered and captured. The police pursue Boingo in the wrong direction. Granny, Wolf, and Kirk locate Boingo as he is explaining his evil scheme to Red: he plans to add addictive "Boingonium" to the recipes then bulldoze the forest for a Boingo-themed corporate empire.
Wolf and Kirk distract Boingo as Granny sneaks into Boingo's lair, but they are all found out. Boingo sends a bound and gagged Red down the mountain in a cable car loaded with explosives. Granny goes after Red with Boingo and his henchmen in pursuit. Red frees herself and escapes with Granny, while the police, who have been redirected by a caffeine-crazed Twitchy, wait at the bottom of the mountain to arrest Boingo and his henchmen. Kirk finds success in a yodeling troupe, while Red, Granny, Wolf, and Twitchy are enlisted by Flippers to join the "Happily Ever After" crime-solving agency.
Also See
Movie Trailer
- Hoodwinked! (2005) (Trailers)