How bad is Hoodwinked? It got a rating of 1/10

[Cunctator]

I've never seen the critic in the Sunday paper give such a low rating to a film. Has anyone seen it? Is it terrible? Or was the critic just in a bad mood?

[DaddyTimesTwo]

I thought Hoodwinked was quite cute, and in unexpected ways. There are a several songs in it that are pretty good, and not just "for a kids' movie." And the story was a little more sophisticated than I expected too, sort of a Rashomon kind of thing. I don't know why your critic didn't like it.

[Jonathan Chance]

Yeah, toss me as another in the 'confused' camp. I thought that for a kid's movie it was surprised well-informed and sophisticated with a lot that appealed to me. Me being the 39 year-old father of the primary attendee.

[Khadaji]

I reviewed (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7479710&highlight=hoodwinked#post7479710) it in one of my many threads that sank into obscurity. In short, I thought it was quite fun.

[Corporate Hippie]

Watched it just the other night. I'd say it was quirky and funny, and it had a clever story. The characters were hit and miss; in particular I didn't think Red was very interesting. From a purely technical point of view, the animation was pretty sub-par, but apparently the film was low budget ($15 million I think), which in itself is pretty impressive for a 3D animated feature.

[Cunctator]

Interesting. Thanks all. It sounds like the critic was having a bad day. The review itself seems to be hidden away in the "pay only" section of the paper, but you can get the flavour of the critic's comments from the review's title:

Hoodwinked. Critic's warning: Bad falls, bad wolves, bad attacks, bad animation. Rating 1/10

[Typo Negative]

I liked Hoodwinked. Wasn't what I expected at all. If someone gave it 1/10, I wonder what they gave Over the Hedge? (steaming pile of crap)

[CalMeacham]

I thought it was great. Surprisingly well-done. They knew that their animation wasn't top-of-the-line, so, as with Jay Ward's Rocky and Bullwinkle, they concentrated on the storytelling and jokes. It's a surprisingly complex story in which you see the same scenes from different points of view, and each time you learn something else. More than one reviewer compared it to Rashomon, which isn't really appropriate, since each witness tells the same story in this case, but shows the level of sophistication.

Rotten Tomatoes didn't give it a pass -- it rated 47%. But that's a lot better than 1 in 10:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1155109-hoodwinked/

[cmkeller]

I enjoyed it. It frequently tried to be too funny and failed, but overall, it was a fun watch, and great for the kids.

I could sing the "Schnitzel on a Stick" jingle for hours without getting tired of it.

[JohnT]

I've never seen the critic in the Sunday paper give such a low rating to a film. Has anyone seen it? Is it terrible? Or was the critic just in a bad mood?

What?

Are you serious?

Hoodwinked, despite having the worst animation of any semi-major animated release, easily had the best script and story... it was one of those rare birds, an animated movie made largely for the adults with stuff for the kids thrown in (as opposed to movies like Shrek, made for the kids but with stuff thrown in for the adults).

One of my top "overlooked gems" of all time. Your reviewer is an idiot.

[A. I. Wintermute]

Just to add a demographic to the chorus, several of my friends and I watched it on the recommendation of one of my roommates and liked it. We're all college students, though you'd be hard-pressed to believe it when I tell you that the last two movies we have watched are Hoodwinked and The Emperor's New Groove.

[Equipoise]

My husband and I, both in our 40's, had a great time watching Hoodwinked. I agree with everyone else, it's clever and funny. We wanted to watch it again because there were so many bits we missed while laughing. It's got a lot of great quotes in it, though most would be meaningless if you don't have the context of the movie in mind. I have to stop myself sometimes from calling people "Boris" and I love to say the line "I'm not like other grannies." I also like "Never trust a bunny!"

It's a good time. That reviewer is a old poop.

[pesch]

My wife saw it with the Kid and wants to buy the DVD, which we will not do for "Shark Tales". Make of that what you will.

[Cisco]

I hate most of these movies. The whole genre has gotten tiresome and formulated, and I'm sick of hearing everybody say you THINK it's a kid's movie, but it's REALLY for adults! everytime one of them comes out, because that is almost never the case.

I remember the first time I saw an ad for Hoodwinked my first thought was: Whoever pays to see that piece of crap is getting hoodwinked all right.

I was wrong.

It was a very watchable movie with good songs and funny jokes. The animation sucked compared to today's standards, but you've got to be pretty damn snobby to care about that.

[Sierra Indigo]

Thanks guys - I've been quietly giggling at the previews every time I see one, but I've not been sure I could talk hubby into going. I might show him some of these informal reviews and see if I can get him in there.

[GuanoLad]

When I first saw the trailers for Jimmy Neutron, I thought it would be godawful crap. But I was wrong - when I finally got around to seeing it, it was hilariously offbeat, and excellent value enntertainment. I believe Hoodwinked is made by the same crowd.

[don't ask]

Rob Lowing, the reviewer who awarded the 1/10, has long been my favourite in the press. She is always willing to approach movies at their own level and can find plenty to like in things such as teen movies that other reviewers refuse to recognise. She may have given something 1 before but I can't recall when.

To satify the OP's curiosity she says:

It's hard to understand what is worse in Hoodwinked: the bland computer-animated characters or the unbelievably dull story.

.....Hathaway, in bizarrely deadpan mode....

Cue complicated flashback scenes and few jokes.......the only patrons laughing during the wearisome second half were two young teens.

Unlike Shrek which worked hard to create a viable story and standout characters, this lazy fractured fairytale simply shoves slang into the distorted plastic doll faces of its woodland creatures.

Even at 72 minutes this is barely worth watching on DVD.

[Cisco]

When I first saw the trailers for Jimmy Neutron, I thought it would be godawful crap. But I was wrong - when I finally got around to seeing it, it was hilariously offbeat, and excellent value enntertainment. I believe Hoodwinked is made by the same crowd.
Funny you should mention that, because just this weekend I flipped past it on a movie channel and thought, ha! I'm so happy that I'm too smart to ever be suckered into seeing such a piece of crap! La la la la!

Now that you've compared it to Hoodwinked I want to see it.

That'll show me who's too smart to do what!

[Shirley Ujest]

I thought Hoodwinked had some great promise and a pretty clever story line.

The voice talents were particularly meh. The Bunny ( Andy dick) and the Wolf ( don't know) were really the only bright spots. The wolf was my favorite. Twitchy was a gas, as well.


Little Red ( Anne Hathaway) was just so pedestrian. She never completely repelled or captivated. Little Red's feet were awful, like elephants and her age was confusing: is she like 12 or 18 or what?


It was not as good as quality for the movies movies but too much for a TV movie. Somewhere in the chasm it went.




39 year old mom, here.

[Lissa]

My husband and I love animated movies, but neither of us liked Hoodwinked. Actually, we stopped watching after half an hour. Yeah, it seemed to have a vew moments here and there, but we just didn't find it funny.

[Subway Prophet]

My family loved it. We got intentional part of the "bad animation" rap - it's supposed to look like the old stop-motion Christmas specials that I hate so much. And even with the akward animation, there are some spots that visually shine - some of the Grandma "hobby" scenes, for example. The music was fun too - the song "Red is Blue", sung by Ben Folds, is currently my wife's favorite movie song. Some of the offbeat characters were extremely offbeat and had no rational explanation but were fun nonetheless - the mountain goat, the snack shop clerk dressed like his boss, etc. And there were a ton of other movies referenced throughout, some obvious, some very subtle.

It also goes against the rule that celebrity voices don't belong in a cartoon. Glenn Close, Patrick Warburton, Andy Dick, Anne Hathaway - all were brilliant in this flick.

I give it at least 2 out of 10, probably more. :cool:

[Hampshire]

My husband and I love animated movies, but neither of us liked Hoodwinked. Actually, we stopped watching after half an hour. Yeah, it seemed to have a vew moments here and there, but we just didn't find it funny.

Yeah, it seems that way at first. You go through the story from Red's point of view and it moves along drably with some weird stuff happening along the way.
But the schtick of the movie is you then see the whole story told from several characters point of view and you see how the stories intermingle with eachother.

The voice of the wolf was Patrick Warburton. He also did the voice of Kronk in the The Emporer's New Groove and played Elaine's boyfriend Puddy on Seinfeld.

[Cisco]

I'm curious to know what the people who disliked it thought of:

-Shrek 2
-Finding Nemo
-Cars
-A Shark Tale
-Rashomon
-Pulp Fiction


And if we're doing x/10 ratings I give it a solid 7/10 easily, maybe even a 7.5/10. I'd have to watch it again to be sure.

[simster]

Yeah, it seems that way at first. You go through the story from Red's point of view and it moves along drably with some weird stuff happening along the way.
But the schtick of the movie is you then see the whole story told from several characters point of view and you see how the stories intermingle with eachother.

The voice of the wolf was Patrick Warburton. He also did the voice of Kronk in the The Emporer's New Groove and played Elaine's boyfriend Puddy on Seinfeld.

Totally agree here...

But Patrick Warburton... he's best known as ...

The TICK!

SPOON!!!!!!!!!

[Lissa]

I'm curious to know what the people who disliked it thought of:

-Shrek 2
-Finding Nemo
-Cars
-A Shark Tale
-Rashomon
-Pulp Fiction


Loved Shrek and Pulp Fiction. I haven't seen the others you mentioned, but I also loved Bug's Life, Wallace & Grommit and Madagascar.

[light strand]

My Husband and I (both 38- no kids) liked it. It was cute, had a decent story, and was very watchable.

I will echo what others have said in that "Red" was kind of boring, but that was more than made up for with and interest cast of supporting characters, including Andy Dick, whom I normally hate but who was perfectly cast. The animation is certainly isn't Shrek good, but it's adequate.

It was fun for what it was, and it certainly didn't try to be anything more than it was; a funny little diversion.

[What Exit?]

I enjoyed Hoodwinked enough to already own it.
Here is my thread on it back when it was released.
Hoodwinked is surprising good, my kids loved it. (No Spoilers) (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=354202)

I took my wife and kids to see Hoodwinked today.

It was getting poor reviews but IMDB votes are a 7.4, I would give it a 7.

The theatre was packed, and there was much laughing during the movie and applause at the end.

It is a great twist on the Little Red Riding Hood story. Animation is subpar but humor was good. Best character was the hyperactive Squirrel voice by writer/director Cory Edwards who I never heard of before.

Jim

[SkipMagic]

Count me in the group who thought it was much better than what the advertisements gave us. My favorite part was the Wolf/Fletch allusion.

[simster]

Count me in the group who thought it was much better than what the advertisements gave us. My favorite part was the Wolf/Fletch allusion.


I didn't think Fletch at the time, I thought Kolchak, but Fletch is better....

We (the entire simfamily) liked it....

[aldiboronti]

I haven't seen the movie yet but I did see the trailer. The animation is just terrible (one critic said that it looked as if it had been put together on a Commodore 64, and he's right).

However good the storyline, didn't this detrract from some people's enjoyment of the movie?

[Amp]

Nope. I would rather have a great storyline and crappy animation (which BTW Hoodwinked was not) than great animation but a crappy storyline. The latter can only hold my attention for so long.

[DaddyTimesTwo]

I bought it on DVD as well, but I'm not getting the Fletch allusion. The Wolf is an investigative reporter, OK, but is there some specific scene? And I looked up Kolchak (I was but a wee lad at that time, so I only sort of remember it. It would have scared me too much!), so I guess it's the same thing that. Anything specific there?

[What Exit?]

I haven't seen the movie yet but I did see the trailer. The animation is just terrible (one critic said that it looked as if it had been put together on a Commodore 64, and he's right).

However good the storyline, didn't this detrract from some people's enjoyment of the movie?
The story and humor easily overcame the Animation.
My daughter loves the last Unicorn, the animation is terrible in that. If the story is good the animation does not have to be.
How good was Cars animation? Spectacular right? Was it a good story? Was it funny?
The writing and acting (voice in this case) should override the medium or why would anyone enjoy the Great old B&W movies of long ago. Not one Marx Brother's movie had great camera work or cinematography.

Jim

[Chanteuse]

I absolutely loved it. I just about laughed my ass off, and considering the size of the aforementioned ass, you can guess how funny I thought this movie was! :D

[CalMeacham]

However good the storyline, didn't this detrract from some people's enjoyment of the movie?


That's like asking if the poor quality of the animation detracted from Rocky and Bullwinkle (the original TV series). Blasphemy!


And the animation in Hoodwinked is light years better than R & B.

[guppy]

I just happened to see it two weeks ago with my sister, her boyfriend and my parents; no one under 30. We all liked it. I still laugh when I think of the squirrel voice when it was slowed down in the end. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars at Netflix.

I just added Jimmy Neutron to my que. :D

[ITR champion]

23 years old, male, loved Hoodwinked. Clever, carefully written, lots of allusions to other movies, and old-fashioned laughs that are still funny. High points for me include the snowboarding scene, the ax man running through the forest, the squirrel drinking coffee, and the wolf's perspective on his encounter with Red in the forest. Also, there were no toilet-humor or gross-out jokes. I appreciate the fact that they stayed closer to Loony-Toons style stuff, such as finding dynamite in a cart going down a rickety track, rather than assuming that kids only care about the latest and most modern pop culture.

I was not at all bothered by the quality of the animation, but rather I felt it enhanced the movie. There's no law saying that animation has imitate reality as closely as possible. Since almost anything can be digitally rendered as photo-real these days, there wouldn't be much point in animation otherwise. Animation can be animated; you can distort things so that they're more pleasant/cheery/brooding/scary/lively/outrageous than in reality, and that's what they did in Hoodwinked.

For the record, I liked Finding Nemo and Cars, but not for the same reasons. Shrek 2 was entertaining but forgetable. I've never seen Rashamon, Pulp Fiction, or Shark Tale.

[SkipMagic]

I bought it on DVD as well, but I'm not getting the Fletch allusion. The Wolf is an investigative reporter, OK, but is there some specific scene?
He wears the same Lakers shirt, uses an afro (as Fletch did) and riffs on some of the Fletch's lines; in fact, even the music playing when the wolf tells his story parodies the music in Fletch. I'd have to go back watch both movies to make a better list of similarities. But you might try Googling Hoodwinked and Fletch to see what others have come up with (seems to be, at a quick glance, a few things I didn't notice).

[Cisco]

I can't believe so many people are so concerned with the animation! Yes, it's not Shrek but unless you're about 6 years old it's way, way, WAY better than anything any of us grew up with.

I was probably at least 20-30 minutes into the movie before I realized that it wasn't up to today's standards, and then I promptly forgot about it.

[Cunctator]

Just to add to the comments that don't ask noted, here's the full review for anyone who may still be curious about the 1/10 rating:

Animated nonsense a con

Hoodwinked

Rated: G
Voices by Anne Hathaway, Glenn Close, David Ogden Stiers.
Critic’s warning: Bad falls, bad wolves, bad attacks, bad animation.
Critic’s rating: 1/10

The jury is still out on whether digital projection of live action movies will be the biggest con job foisted on cinema audiences since Smell-O-Rama. But there’s no delay in delivering a verdict on Hollywood’s recent cheapening of children’s animated movies.

Quality has been steadily decreasing, from Robots to Chicken Little to Cars, to, now, Hoodwinked. One can only hope that this will be the lowest that Hollywood can go. But audiences should brace themselves for a glut of hastily made cartoons, as America attempts to cash in on the big money made by ‘toon features in recent years.

It’s hard to decide what is worst in Hoodwinked: the bland computer-animated characters or the unbelievably dull story.

In one of those typically cute-but-barely coherent Hollywood set-ups, perky talking forest animals sell “goodies” (sweets) via hardworking delivery girl Little Red Riding Hood (voiced by Hathaway, in bizarrely deadpan mode). But the forest creatures are threatened by the Goody Bandit, who has been stealing everyone’s recipes for cakes and muffins. After one such theft, the police are called to the house of Red’s Granny (Close).

At the scene of the crime, super-smooth investigator Nicky Flippers (Stiers) discovers Red in fighting mood, a trussed-up Granny, the sinister wolf (Patrick Warburton), who was hiding in Granny’s bed, and a yodelling woodcutter (James Belushi). To find the truth, Nicky asks the suspects to tell their stories.

Cue complicated flashback scenes and few jokes. At one cinema screening, the only patrons laughing during the wearisome second half were two young teens.

Unlike Shrek, which worked hard to create a viable story and standout characters, this lazy fractured fairytale simply shoves slang into the distorted plastic doll faces of its woodland creatures.

Even at 72 minutes, this is barely worth watching on video.

[XaMcQ]

I'd give it a 6/10, myself. It had its moments, but on the whole it felt like it was trying too hard. And it was ugly to look at. And I hated the music. An A for effort and originality, a C- for the actual finished product.

-Shrek 2 - I liked it, but the first one was better.

-Finding Nemo - Wow, that was a gorgeous movie. Good acting by the voice talent.

-Cars - Haven't seen it

-A Shark Tale - Not as good as 'Finding Nemo'. I hated the way they chose to depict the fish.

-Rashomon - Beautiful, fascinating.

-Pulp Fiction - A great movie, fun to watch, fantastic music, great bits of story, fine acting by some of the characters.

[Little Nemo]

Hoodwinked was good. It wasn't great like Toy Story 2 or Spirited Away but it was definitely not bad. The story was essentially a Shrek-like remake of Rashomon. The animation was not top notch but it was alright.

[gfloyd]

Both my boyfriend (30) and I (21) enjoyed it. We saw it in the theaters and rented it as well. Then animation is fine. I'm of the school that it's a cartoon and should look like one, not like live action. I thought it was better than Shrek 2, but not as good as Shrek.