Hoodwinked

Hoodwinked is one of (what promises to be) the rash of computer animated kids movies released in this late summer of 2006, and, while I cannot fairly pass comment on any of the others, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of the best. The plot is simple enough for kids to understand and convoluted enough for their parents to enjoy, as a reworking of the story of Red Riding Hood sees the main characters of Wolf, Granny, Woodcutter and Red herself cross-examined with an aim to identifying the thief who has been laying waste to the forest’s supply of sweet treats.

As part of the still relatively new genre of computer animation, it must be said that it doesn’t boast much in the way of fine detail and is nowhere near as polished as the efforts of the likes of Pixar, but the simple, almost plasticky look of the characters gives the impression of watching animated toys, the animals very much resembling soft toys and the humans like jointed dolls. Rather appropriate, really, given the fairy-tale setting in which they live.

The script is clever and funny enough to make up for any lack of eye-candy, and seeing how each character’s story fits together and fleshes out the events of the day is a lot of fun. The voice cast really add life to the characters, including Anne Hathaway as Red once again proving herself a talented voice actress (having been by far the best thing about the recent English dub of Studio Ghibli’s The Cat Returns), and Andy Dick, who is as enjoyable as the voice of fuzzy bunny rabbit Boingo as he is irritating in the flesh. All in all an excellent family movie, with smart enough dialogue and cute enough forest creatures to please everyone.