Short on animation, long on laughs

Hoodwinked (2006)
The Weinstein Company presents a Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards and Tony Leech film, featuring the voices of Glenn Close and Anne Hathaway. 80m. PG for some mild action and thematic elements.

2.5 stars

“Hoodwinked” appropriates the narrative structure of “Rashômon” not to discover murder most foul, but to find out which creature of the forest is trying to torpedo the cottage industry of goodie-making.

The film is a re-imagined telling of the classic Little Red Riding Hood tale, with drippings of cynicism and sarcasm humorously padding the short story. Its laughs far outweigh its simple animation, which makes this a rare January delight.

The tale starts in media res, as forest detective Nicky Flippers (voice of David Ogden Stiers) investigates an “intent to eat” complaint at the residence of Granny Puckett (voice of Glenn Close). Present are the Puckett granddaughter, Red (voice of Anne Hathaway), the (big bad) wolf (voice of Patrick Warburton) and a Paul Bunyon-esque woodsman (voice of Jim Belushi).

Like “Rashômon,” each eyewitness to the crimes committed – which also include breaking and entering but also the more uncanny charge of wielding an axe without a license – offers their limited perspective on the events as they unfolded.

Red’s tale offers an open and shut investigation. When she arrived at the house, she found the wolf poorly posing as her grandmother while the elderly lady stood bound in her own closet. The woodsman interrupted the fracas with a kamikaze jump through granny’s living room window.

But the modus operandi of “Hoodwinked” isn’t to re-present the Red Riding Hood tale we’ve cherished for centuries, but to turn the entire tale on its ear. Depending on how long we can suspend our disbelief – and for children’s animation, our threshold should be much higher – the screenwriters will weave extreme sports, animals with coffee addictions, sheep snitches, and schnitzel snack trucks into the fairy tale. Is nothing sacrosanct anymore?

The film works because the creative minds behind it – writer/directors Cory and Todd Edwards – are willing to take risks with their material. The film plays out like the “E! True Hollywood Story” of Granny’s forest, complete with a strangely uncuddly bunny (voice of Andy Dick, portrayed in the same high camp that has made the comedian infamous) which seems to be at the epicenter of every recounting.

At the same time, the creators of “Hoodwinked” didn’t produce anything that couldn’t be exhibited to small children. It may be irreverent to its source material, but it minds its tactful boundaries. And children will be more forgiving of the animation, which won’t compare to bigger budget efforts like “Shrek.”

As someone who enjoys his humor on the dark side, I enjoyed the snappy discourse between the high-brow investigator, a frog, and the simple-minded beat cops (among them – a bear, a stork and of course, the three no-longer-so-little pigs).

Consider this exchange. The cops argue that the Wolf (an investigative journalist in this re-imagined world) is the main suspect because of his insidious nature.

Flippers: “We don’t arrest people for being creepy.”
Cop (over walkie-talkie, in a low voice): “Hey, Bruce, you know that guy we have in the tank?”
Bruce (over walk-talkie): “The creepy one?”
Cop: “Better let him go.”

If you can’t manage a smile for this, or a myriad of other similarly-minded exchanges, this may not be your film. While I certainly acknowledge the writing wouldn’t hold water in the pantheon of great slapstick, “Hoodwinked” is still a nice, albeit temporary, reprieve from the doldrums of January.