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?
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.
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.
I reviewed it in one of my many threads that sank into obscurity. In short, I thought it was quite fun.
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.
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:
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)
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.