Friday, January 13, 2006

Hoodwinked! (***1/4)

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A fresh reworking of the Red Riding Hood tale that mixes classic and modern elements.



Following Chicken Little by just a few months, this is the another film providing an animated twist on an old fable. (Additionally, the live-action Brothers Grimm reworked Rapunzel.) The debut animated feature by brothers Cory and Todd Edwards, Hoodwinked is a reimagined Little Red Riding Hood that deftly mixes classic fairy-tale elements with new ones without seeming to try too hard. Reworked as a police procedural, the tale gets retold by Red (Anne Hathaway), the wolf (Patrick Warburton), Granny (Glenn Close), and the woodsman (James Belushi). Along with original songs by the brothers, there’s electronic music in the score that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a old Miami Vice episode. Compared to the Grimms’ version, Red’s savvier, Granny’s spunkier, and some additional characters, like the speed-talking squirrel (Cory Edwards) and the frog investigator (David Ogden Stiers), are funnier.


viewed 1/13/06 at Moorestown

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