I must admit this title flew under the radar – it took in a cameo role at
the cinemas and failed to ignite the imagination of movie-goers.
Having taken in the original Hoodwinked, I entered this foray
apprehensively, gone were the stars of the original cast Anne Hathaway as Red
being the most notable.....that in itself could have been part of the downfall
of this movie.
As is usually the case with modern movies – theres always the obligatory
“review” snippet on the cover – this one reads “…a fun fractured
fairy tale” Fun – errmm not really, Fractured…yes definately, however the
latter could be more to do with the movies style – it seemingly doesnt kick
into high-gear. It's not all bad though there's the “saving grace” of
Twitchy the hyper squirrel, Wolf the dry humoured and somewhat laid-back agent
and just to lighten the load theres the singing mountain-goat who seemingly
knows whats happening before it happens and tells it in song…
The Story…it's nothing we haven't seen before, abducted children and a
stolen super-recipe need to be saved by our fairy-tale collaboration from the
wicked witch and her lackeys. Like the popular Shrek series, a multitude of
other fairy-tale (um) stars make their presence and these are generally well
portrayed…Hansel and Gretel – the abducted kids, The Giant (from Jack and
the Beanstalk) as the owner of a bigger than life nightclub.
All the ingredients seem to be there for a rollicking fairy-tale
adventure – yet somehow it all comes across a bit of a mish-mash…the plot
seems confused and not very well welded together with maybe a few too many
genres being inserted into the title (take a look throughout the movie and you
will note similarities of scenes to other block-buster movies) Maybe it just
gets a little too distanced from what it really should be.....a Fairy-tale
adventure!
I did read a few review forums before deciding to purchase, and was swayed
by a few positive reviews, however many did comment on the “old” looking
animation…lets be honest here Hoodwinked Too! is not the type of movie that
requires cutting edge animation, it is afterall based on characters ripped from
flat two-dimensional drawings…I actually found it refreshing to see that a
sequel hadn't over-worked itself into something that didnt even resemble the
first movie, all the characters look exactly the same – granted they are now
in hi-def and therefore somewhat crisper onscreen.
One of the main reasons I bought this title was to expand on my 3D
collection – so lets talk a little about the 3D side of things. It's been
said by many that 3D is best and easier achieved in animated titles – the
creator has physical control over the depth/pop etc. Hoodwinked Too! has
sufficient 3D, nothing spectacular mind you – again this will come down to
the viewer and what you are expecting. A good 3D movie should draw you into the
world of the movie – this is achieved by adding a sufficient depth
field…While there are a few good moments of this, Hoodwinked Too! doesn't
excell overall. There are several instances where the much wanted (by most 3D
viewers) pop-out feature could have been implemented and maybe this could have
lifted the overall experience.
In summary, realisticly I can see why this one became a forgotten fairy-tale
in the cinema – there's now WOW factor, there's no A-list celebrity line up
compared to todays other animated successes (and I think it was up against some
pretty tough opposition at release).....That isnt to say that Hoodwinked Too!
isnt worth a watch, I just wouldnt go into it expecting Too! much