Tales From the Hood: Boredom Abounds in Fairy-Tale Pastiche

Comments (0) By Matt Singer Tuesday, Jan 3 2006

photo: The Weinstein Company

Cloak and haggard: Hoodwinked

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Hoodwinked
Directed by Cory Edwards
The Weinstein Company, opens January 13

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Finally, a Rashomon for the whole family. This cartoon version of "Little Red Riding Hood" tells and retells its story from a variety of perspectives, all of them boring. Red (Anne Hathaway) is your standard cartoon heroine: plucky, independent, missing at least one parent. The Wolf (Patrick Warburton) is a private detective on the trail of some recipes. And in case you've ever wanted to hear Glenn Close say, "'Fo' shizzle!" her Granny is an extreme-sports-loving, hip-hopping old coot. To court fans of Shrek, the movie is peppered with in jokes, pop culture references, and plenty of pop songs—James Belushi's Woodsman character sings a particularly bizarre one about schnitzel. Sluggishly paced and stiffly animated, Hoodwinked pulls out all the stops to keep its attention-deficient audience occupied, but the snowboarding, skiing, hang-gliding, and kung fu sequences will still be a lot more fun in the Hoodwinked video game. If I was Disney, I'd sign that new contract with Pixar real quick.